


Not Without a Fight

by Sassitude



Series: Stranger Things Rewrite [1]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Angst, Best Friends, Enemies to Friends, F/M, Family Bonding, Family Issues, Father-Daughter Relationship, Fights, Fluff, I Mean the Slowest of Burns, Injury, Mending Relationships, One-Sided Attraction, Only reason being Steve is an asshat season 1, Reader has a crush on Jonathan but he likes Nancy, Reader is a stressed teenager, Reader solving mysteries like her dad, Reader-Insert, Rewrite, Slow Burn, Sorry I don't make the rules I just enforce them, Unrequited Love, also might have mild anger issues, hopper!reader, protective Reader
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-20
Updated: 2020-05-28
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:55:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 35,955
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22156639
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sassitude/pseuds/Sassitude
Summary: You are the daughter of Jim Hopper, who met Jonathan Byers shortly after the death of your sister. The two of you became best friends. When his brother, Will, goes missing, you get dragged into the crazy unknown mysteries of Hawkins, Indiana.Season 1 Rewrite
Relationships: Eleven | Jane Hopper/Mike Wheeler, Jonathan Byers/Nancy Wheeler, Jonathan Byers/Reader, Joyce Byers & Jim "Chief" Hopper, Steve Harrington/Nancy Wheeler, Steve Harrington/Reader
Series: Stranger Things Rewrite [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1607128
Comments: 3
Kudos: 63





	1. The Vanishing of Will Byers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I started writing this story back in 2018 and finally decided to post it. I hope you enjoy.

Being the chief's daughter had its ups and downs. Everyone didn't want to mess with you for fear of the grouchy man, but there were others who called you names because they thought your father was a deadbeat. It hurt to hear what people had to say about him, but they weren't wrong. Some people would look at you with the same look of pity they gave him because they knew that ever since Sara, your family hasn't been the same. When she passed it took the biggest toll on your dad. He shut off from everyone and it started to destroy his marriage with your step-mother. She had eventually gotten a divorce from him. You thought he was going to become unresponsive to anyone. Instead he got a little better, you assumed he must have realized that he still had another daughter he had to be there for.

It was probably also because with the divorce you had found out that your step-mother who you believed to be your real mother wasn't and it ruined you. Who you were wasn't who you thought at all, you had lost your sister and yourself. When he finally tried to be there for you it was too late, although you loved him unconditionally, you felt the same abandonment you felt when you found out your birth mother left you before you were even one years old. It was even worse because you too were grieving the loss of your sister. Eventually the two of you were back on good terms, but you knew it would never be the way it was. 

It was about when you were the fifth grade that Sara had died. You used to be really friendly and very talkative, but like your father you shied away from others. All your friends thought there was something wrong with you and they started bullying you. Eventually you would sit in the corner of the playground at recess and that just so happened to be the same place where the school's other most quietest student sat. The two of you would just sit there in agreed silence. You didn't really consider the both of you friends, but one day your dad must have forgotten to pick you up. The little boy noticed you hadn't left yet and you saw him whisper something to his mother. The woman had walked over to you and she was very sweet to you.

"Hi sweetie, you're Y/n Hopper right?" she asked.

You nodded your head in response and kept your head to the floor. She continued "I'm Joyce Byers, I used to go to school with your father. I was wondering if you would like to come over and have a play date with Jonathan. Then I can call your father to come pick you up."

At first you weren't sure if you should leave with strangers, but you had recognized the woman so you nodded your head again. You didn't really know how to talk to Jonathan since you two never really talked. So Joyce tended to lead the conversation. You didn't really remember what made the two of click, but the minute Joyce mentioned it was like the two of you couldn't stop talking. You had to admit it was nice to see Jonathan smile and had developed a little crush on him. The boy's mother looked so happy to see her child make a friend. When the chief finally showed up to get you, he thanked Joyce and when you left you couldn't stop talking for the first time in a while. Your dad was also happy to see you talking again. 

From that day on you and Jonathan became inseparable. Even when you moved to middle school and eventually high school. It didn't matter to the both of you that you were in different grades. He was your best friend and he was always there for you and you were there for him too. You were there for him and his brother when his dad left and you will definitely be there for him for anything else because you loved Jonathan and his family. You could without a doubt say your little crush had become something more, but you would never tell him that.

With each year that had passed you became more and more like your old self just with a hardened shell. You were more expressive than Jonathan, but you still didn't have many friends. That was probably because most of time you were very hot headed when people brought up sore subjects. But you had no longer closed yourself off. You also had worked to change the image of the Hopper name by doing your very best in school. You were top of your class and the only way someone would beat you was if Nancy Wheeler had been in your grade. People in town were shocked at hearing a Hopper would be valedictorian. They would always say just wait for the shoe to drop, she won't be for long. But you had to prove them wrong. If only you had gone to pick up the young Byers brother at the Wheelers'.

Jonathan asked you to pick up Will since he was taking up a shift to help his mother out. You hated to tell him you couldn't because you were busy with school and making your dad come home to a cooked meal. He told you it was fine because Will had biked home before and the both of you had thought nothing more of it. That was until the next morning when you went into the police station with your father. 

*****

Your morning started just like any other. You woke up to the sound of the TV left on and you walked out of your room to the living to see your dad passed out on the couch. You left him alone because you knew he would wake up sooner or later. Then you got ready for school. By the time you were done your father had woken up and took a shower. You grabbed your books and put them in your bag and Hopper grabbed his keys. Hopper had given you his old burnt orange 1969 Ford F-100 truck, but out of convenience your father would drive you to his work and then Jonathan would pick you up from there. The both of you got in his car and headed down to the station. Few words were shared between the two of you, mostly because you both couldn't think without a cup of coffee in the morning.

As usual the moment the two of you walked in, Flo the receptionist greeted you, "Good of you to show," she looked to you, "and good morning to you, Y/n."

You politely said good morning back then you walked to the table with coffee without giving anyone else a second glance. You grabbed a cup for yourself then got your father one while he was talking to his co workers.

"Oh, hey, morning, Flo. Morning, everybody."

"Hey, Chief." His coworker Powell said.

"Damn! You look like hell, Chief," the other police officer, Callahan, took a jab at your father.

Here goes the same old cop banter you thought. "Oh, yeah?" Hopper replied to which Callahan said yeah. "Well, I looked better than your wife when I left her this morning," your dad retorted.

Flo seemed to have enough of their conversation and carried on with business, "While you were drinking or sleeping, or whatever it is you deemed so necessary on Monday morning, Phil Larson called. Said some kids are stealing the gnomes out of his garden again." 

"Oh, those garden gnomes again. Well, I'll tell you what, I'm gonna get right on that." Your father walked over to the table and grabbed a donut then you handed him his cup of coffee. He said thank you. You had just finished your cup and said bye to your dad as you started to head out of the station to wait for Jonathan when Flo said, "On a more pressing matter, Joyce Byers can't find her son this morning." 

You stopped dead in your tracks and turned around. "What happened? Is everything okay?" You started panicking wondering who Joyce couldn't find, if they were okay, if something awful had happened.

Before Flo could answer you, your father replied. "That is none of your concern Y/n. Go to school, I will take care of it." You gave him a quizzical glance because you knew how he handled cases. "Just go." 

You complied and walked out of the police department. You noticed Joyce's Pinto in the parking lot and saw that Jonathan was driving. His mother must have came into the station and Jonathan followed to either fill you in on what happened or tell you that he wouldn't be able to go to school that day. You breathed a sigh of relief, but then you were concerned about Will. You went up to the passenger door and got inside the car. "So I heard that your mom can't find Will."

You knew how close him and his brother were and it hurt to see how worried he was. You hated seeing him this way. "He wasn't in his room this morning. We thought maybe he stayed over at Mike's, but Mrs.Wheeler said he left their house last night." There was panic in his voice and he lowered his head from your sight, "I shouldn't have taken that shift last night, I should have picked him up."

You couldn't help but feel some what responsible too. You thought maybe if you had done a simple favor for your best friend, Will wouldn't be missing. But you couldn't be blaming yourself right now you had to comfort Jonathan. "Hey, you didn't know this was going to happen. It isn't your fault. Hopper is going look for Will and find him and if he doesn't then we'll find Will." You reassured him while rubbing soothing circles on his back. 

He changed the topic and asked you "So do you still need a ride to school?" 

"I think school can wait for today."

"Y/n you don't need to skip school just because I am."

"What kind of best friend would I be if I didn't help you find your brother."

"You're the greatest," Jonathan said gratefully because he didn't have many people in his life that would be there for him.

"I know," you joked to ease the tension.

*****

When Joyce finished talking to your father, you all went back to the Byers' house. The three of you went to check the forest surrounding their house. You were yelling Will's name hoping he might hear one of you. No one found anything nearby, so you all went to Castle Byers to see if there was any sign of him there. Still nothing.

You were really worried about the boy. He was such a sweet person and didn't deserve to possibly be lost and scared. The thought of him out there on his own made you feel sick. You could only imagine how his mother and brother felt. 

There was nothing to find, putting an end to your search. You went back to the Byers' house to wait for something. Apparently your dad had thought that maybe Will went to his dad's house. Joyce decided to call Lonnie hoping that Will would be there. While she called him, you and Jonathan made missing person posters.

"Is Lonnie there?- Can you please- Who is this?- Cynthia.- Cynthia, this is Joyce.- Lonnie's ex-wife.- I really need to speak to him - Can you please put - No! No, not later. Now!" You tried to mind your own business while she was on the phone but it was difficult when she started to yell. 

You assumed "Cynthia" must have hung up on her because Joyce slammed the phone down and yelled bitch. You both turned to look at the fuming woman. "Mom."

"What?"

"You have to stay calm," he said.

She gave a little chuckle and redialed the number. "Lonnie, some teenager just hung up on me. Will is... is missing. I don't know where he is. I need, I just need you to call me back, please, just" this time she slammed the phone down extra hard and you winced a little. "Damn it! Damn it!"

Then Jonathan looked out the window. "Mom?"

"What?' You noticed what he was talking about as you saw your father's car pull up. "Cops."

Joyce left the house through the front door, Jonathan followed then you. Your dad walked around the vehicle from the trunk. He had a bicycle in his hands. To be more specific he had Will's bike in his hands.

He set it down by the front of the house and Joyce invited Powell, Callahan, and your dad inside. Your dad closed the door and Joyce asked, "It was just lying there?"

Your father said yeah and told Powell to check the house by pointing him in a direction. "Did it have any blood on it, or." Joyce was panicking and Hopper interrupted to reassure her, "No, no, no, no, no." Then he went around the house to find some sort of evidence.

"If you found the bike out there, why are you here?" Jonathan questioned your father. 

"Well, he had a key to the house, right?"

Jonathan said yeah, confused. "So maybe he came home," your dad clarified as if it were obvious.

"You think I didn't check my own house?" Joyce said somewhat offended.

"I'm not saying that," he deflected while being distracted by a hole in the wall, "Has this always been here?"

Joyce looked at a loss, "What? I don't know. Probably. I mean, I have two boys. Look at this place."

He opened the back door, "You're not sure?" The hole in the wall matched up with the door knob. Then your dad walked out of the house and Joyce followed. A few seconds later Joyce came back in with the dog. You, Jonathan, and Joyce sat on the couch waiting for the police officers to finish their investigation.

You got up to go check what was taking so long especially after Callahan kept calling after your dad. You got to the back door and heard your dad talk about putting a search party together. When he walked inside the house you immediately asked him to let you join the search. He looked extremely against letting you go, but you kept pleading in the most whiny voice. "Please just let me go. What's the worst that could happen? There will be other people there, nothing bad could happen to me." 

"If I say yes will you leave me alone?"

"Yes," you quickly replied.

He gave a few seconds of thinking it over, "then fine you can go."

You were glad he gave in, but then he asked you a question. "Why aren't you at school?"

For moment you thought about playing it off like it was nothing, but decided on being honest. "I wanted to help Jonathan. Plus he needs a friend right now. For crying out loud, his brother is missing." 

"Okay, well if you want to be on search party you have to promise to go to school tomorrow."

"Fine I'll go." Well if you were staying up all night and had to go school tomorrow, you better stock up on caffeine you thought to yourself.

*****

You stayed at the Byers' all day helping make calls to people in town to keep an eye out for Will. You also helped with missing posters and even made dinner for the three of you. Joyce had always been appreciative to have you in her's and her sons' lives. So she was very pleased to have you there. She thanked you for the meal and you told her it was no problem. Jonathan also seemed to be in a better mood with you there. 

Once you finished dinner you said you had to go. "Jonathan could you drive me home, I have to pick up my truck before going to the search." He just nodded his head and grabbed his keys. You said bye to Joyce and gave her a quick hug. "I can't thank you enough Y/n." 

"I promise to let you know what we find tonight, Joyce. We are going to find him." You reaffirmed.

You and Jonathan left and he drove you to your trailer home. Before you got out of the car you turned to Jonathan. "I'll swing by in the morning to let you know if there is any news, okay?"

He quietly said okay. You knew fear was starting to take over him. "Hey it's going to be okay. I just have this feeling we are going to find him." You reached over the transmission to give him a hug. He was shaking, but he stilled after a while as the two of you hugged. "I'm here for you, okay Jonathan" you said as you let go of him, "I'll see you tomorrow." 

"Bye" he mumbled.

You got out of his car and watched him drive away. You felt so bad that there was nothing you could do to make Jonathan feel better. But from experience you knew that having a friend there for you made things a little easier. 

Looking at the time on your watch, you knew it was time to head to the station. You got into the orange truck and headed down to the town. 

When you walked into the department, your dad and other officers were handing out flashlights. You walked over to stand by your dad and he gave you a flashlight. "We will be starting on Cornwallis and make our way down to Cartersville." Your father informed everyone where you were searching. "Everyone will meet at Cornwallis and when we are all there we will start." He finished and everyone made their way to their cars. 

You followed all the cars out to the forest and parked your truck when you reached your destination. You turned on your flashlight and waited for the rest of the group. Shortly after everyone was accounted for, the search begun. 

You were walking side by side with your father because he wanted to keep an eye on you. There were people all around you shouting for Will, but you clearly heard when someone spoke up on the other side of your dad. "He's a good student." You looked over and saw a man you didn't recognize. 

Hopper was confused as to what the man was talking about. "What?"

"Will. He's a good student. Great one, actually," the man cleared up.

"I don't think we've met." your father said.

"Scott Clarke. Teacher, Hawkins Middle. Earth and biology." he introduced himself. He must have been a new teacher since you didn't know him.

"I always had a distaste for science." your dad replied.

"Well, maybe you had a bad teacher."

"Yeah, Ms.Ratliff was a piece of work." That's the science teacher you remembered from Hawkins Middle. You hated her and she had almost ruined science for you too.

"Ratliff? You bet. She's still kicking around, believe it or not." Mr.Clarke stated.

"Oh, I believe it. Mummies never die, so they tell me." Your father took a turn in the conservation and pointed to you. "My daughter, she has always been smarter than me, but her younger sister, Sara... Galaxies, the universe, whatnot. She always understood all that stuff." He explained why he didn't like science, "I always figured there was enough going on down here, I never needed to look elsewhere."

"Your daughter, what grade is she? - Maybe I'll get her in my class."

That was your cue to leave, but you heard your dad say one last thing. "No, she, uh She lives with her mom in the city." Part of you knew someone would tell the teacher the truth. 

You left your dad to brood by himself. After all it still hurt to talk about her. You went off the beaten path of everyone to see if you could find something else. Soon the yelling voices were just background noise over the thunder. You probably had walked to far from the party, but you didn't mind being alone.

Then you heard a kid's voice yelling. It didn't really sound like Will, but you were willing to take your chances. It started down pouring and if Will had been out there he was going to be freezing so you had find him. You tried to pinpoint exactly where the voice was coming from, but it was a little difficult. Eventually you found it and when you could see who it was you were a little shocked, but not really. It had been Mike Wheeler, Dustin Henderson, and Lucas Sinclair. All of Will's friends. Of course they had come out to look for Will. They were probably just as worried about him as Jonathan and Joyce.

"What are you boys doing out here at this time of night? Especially with chief's enforced curfew," you questioned them.

"Look Y/n we can explain. Just please don't tell our parents." Mike quickly replied.

"Save it. I'm taking you three home before you get yourselves in trouble," you knew how they tended to get themselves into sticky situations.

They started complaining and pleading with you. "No I don't care, you could get hurt out here." Then suddenly you heard some rustling in woods. You listened to it intently as Dustin and Lucas started fighting. It seemed that Dustin agreed with you that they should go home. Mike must have heard what you heard too. "Shut up. Shut up. Did you guys hear that?" The Wheeler boy shouted. 

Just then the noise got really loud and you protectively pushed the boys behind you. They all shined their lights in the direction of the rustling. Then a girl with a shaved head appeared in front of the light. She was squinting from the brightness on her eyes. You felt bad for her, she had only a tee shirt on and it was drenched from the rain. You asked if she was okay. She didn't respond. You took off your jacket and handed it to her. She looked at it hesitantly. "It's all right you can have it." She took it and put it on.

"I'm going to grab my truck, you boys make sure she stays safe. I will be back to pick you up," you ordered them.

"Meet us at Mirkwood, we left our bikes there," Dustin told you. You had hung out with the boys before and were aware of where Mirkwood was. It took you a little while to get to your truck, but you immediately went back and made sure the heat was turned up for them. They all hopped in, but the girl seemed a little frightened. Somehow the boys made her feel comfortable enough to get in a car with a bunch of strangers. While they were warming up, you put their bikes in your trunk and drove off to their homes. You had no clue how you were going to explain this to their parents.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It took me way too long to get the motivation to start writing again, but I have this season completed and will be updating regularly. Thank you so much for reading.


	2. The Weirdo on Maple Street

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will be updating on Saturdays after this chapter. Thank you for reading.

The boys insisted on being dropped off at Mike's house. So you went to the Wheeler's, but told Lucas and Dustin when they leave you had to drive them home. You didn't want to see another kid go missing because you made them bike home too. They also had you agree to not tell their parents about their little adventure because they were going to rat on you about the many things you did behind your dad's back. What could you say, you loved and hated these kids at the same time. It was your fault they knew how to blackmail so well anyway.

You went inside with them to make sure the girl was okay. "Is there a number we can call for your parents?" you gave her a kind look as you asked her. 

The boys behind kept going on and on with random questions. "Where's your hair? Do you have cancer?" Dustin asked.

"Did you run away?" 

"Are you in some kind of trouble?"

"Is that blood?" Lucas reached out to touch where the blood was, but Mike slapped his hand away. "Stop it! You're freaking her out!"

"She's freaking me out!" Lucas scoffed.

"I bet she's deaf." Dustin clapped right in front her face and she jumped away from him, "not deaf."

"All right, that's enough, all right? She's just scared and cold," you had enough of their badgering, "Mike, do you have some spare clothes?" The Wheeler boy went to go look for some. Thunder stroke and the girl flinched.

"Here, these are clean," Mike handed the clothes to the girl when he came back. She almost started to undress right in front of everyone. All the boys quickly shouted no. You stopped her before she could do anything. Mike pointed to the bathroom and said, "See over there? - That's the bathroom. Privacy. Get it?"

She picked up the clothes and walked over to the bathroom, Mike followed to close the door. Before the door shut she put her hand between the door to prevent it from closing. "You don't want it closed?" Mike questioned.

Something you thought you would never hear was her voice even if it was a simple word. "No," she said in a hushed voice to match her frightened state.

Mike was shocked too, "Oh, so you can speak." The boy tried to compromise with her, "Okay, well. Um, how about we just keep the door just like this. Is that better?" He left the door open just a sliver. She responded with a yes. 

The three boys were in a circle talking about the girl and you sat on the couch. "This is mental."

"At least she can talk," Mike tried to take a positive approach.

"She said 'no' and 'yes.' Your three-year-old sister says more."

"She tried to get naked."

"There's something seriously wrong with her. - Like, wrong in the head."

"She just went like," Dustin pantomimed taking off a shirt and took his hat off by accident to which you laughed a little at. 

"I bet she escaped from Pennhurst," Lucas theorized.

"From where?" Mike asked

"The nuthouse in Kerley County."

"You got a lot of family there?" Dustin jested.

"Bite me," Lucas quipped, "Seriously though, think about it. That would explain her shaved hair and why she's so crazy."

You were starting to get irritated, "Would you all please stop. Jeez, she is just a terrified little girl who got lost in the woods."

"Well what are we going to do with her," Lucas retorted.

"I think we should tell your mom." Dustin looked to Mike and Lucas agreed.

"Who's crazy now." Mike said.

"How's that crazy." Lucas was starting to get angry.

"Cause, we weren't supposed to be out tonight, remember? So if I tell my mom and she tells your mom and your mom," Mike retaliated. 

"Oh, man."

"Our houses become Alcatraz." Lucas concluded.

"Look tell you parents or don't, I don't care as long as you get that girl home safe," you told the boys.

"All right, here's the plan. She sleeps here tonight." Mike started to tell his plan.

"You're letting a girl," Dustin interrupted.

Mike continued, "Just listen! In the morning, she sneaks around my house, goes to the front door and rings my doorbell. My mom will answer and know exactly what to do. She'll send her back to Pennhurst or wherever she comes from. We'll be totally in the clear."

"Okay sounds like a good plan. Its time to go Lucas and Dustin, I have to go back to the search party before Hopper gets suspicious," you said rushed.

You head up the stairs to go out to your car and the two boys trail behind you. You hurried to drop them both off and sped back to Cornwallis before anyone could notice you were gone. As far as you could tell no one seemed to realize you're absence. You spent the rest of the night trying to find any sign of Will and hoping that mysterious girl would be fine.

*****

In the morning you were beyond exhausted, but you pushed through telling yourself it was for Will. The search was over so you headed over to the Byers' as promised. Your father had to go over too so he followed you there. You walked to front door together and he knocked. This was the part of your dad's job you did not envy. You had found nothing and were going to break a family's heart. Your best friend's family.

The door flung open and there stood Joyce, "We've been waiting six hours."

You both walked inside and closed the door behind you. "I know came as soon as I could."

You moved to stand by Jonathan who was standing in the doorway and let your dad take over filling in the Byers' because you didn't have the heart to.

"Six hours," Joyce emphasized.

"A little bit of trust here, all right? We've been searching all night. Went all the way to Cartersville."

"And?" 

"Nothing," he informed her.

"God," she gasped and paced back and forth.

"Flo says you got a phone call?" Your father asked. This was the first you were hearing about a phone call and were curious to hear what happened.

"Oh, yeah," Joyce's voice broke and she lead him to the phone. Your dad picked up the phone and turned it over to look at. You peaked over his shoulder to see that it was fried.

"Storm barbecued this pretty good," your dad stated.

"The storm?"

"What else?"

"You're saying that that's not weird?"

"No, it's weird," he put the phone back down.  
"Can we, like, trace who made the call? Contact the..." Jonathan timidly asked.

"No, it doesn't work like that," your dad interrupted and continued to question Joyce, "Now, uh, you're sure it was Will? Because Flo said you just heard some breathing."

"No it was him. It was Will and he was scared and then something," Joyce started to break down and was on the verge of tears.

"It was probably just a prank call. It was somebody trying to scare you."

"Who would do that?" Jonathan spoke up.

"Well, this thing's been on TV. It brings out all the crazies, you know. False leads, prank calls, uh," Hopper suggested.

"No, Hopper, it was not a prank," Joyce exasperated. Your father gave her a look you knew to well that meant he was getting annoyed, "Joyce."

"Come on, how about a little trust here? What, you think I'm I'm making this up?" She said equally upset.

"I'm not saying that you're making it up. All I'm saying is it's an emotional time for you," he said.

"And you think I don't know my own son's breathing? Wouldn't you know your own daughter's?" She tried to make him understand, but pushed it to far.

Your dad walked away and took a second to reply then changed the topic with another question. "You hear from, uh, Lonnie yet?" Joyce replied no. "It's been long enough. I'm having him checked out."

"Oh, come on! You're wasting your time," Joyce shouted at your dad as he left the house and Jonathan raced after him. You stayed in attempt to comfort Joyce. Jonathan came back looking a little disheveled. He was putting his things together and grabbed the missing posters from the table.

"You want to come make copies with me," he asked you. You had about an hour to kill before your first class started so you agreed to going with him. 

*****

While the employee went to go make the copies in back room you had looked at the poster and noticed the picture of Will was one that Jonathan had taken. "This is a great picture of him." 

Jonathan acknowledged what you said, but kept quiet. The man came back with all the copies. "That'll be $10." Jonathan reached for his wallet, but you grabbed yours first. You paid for them before he could protest. You thanked the employee, took the copies, and left the store. Jonathan followed, "You didn't have to do that Y/n. I had the money for them."

"I didn't have to, but I wanted to." 

"Well at least let me pay you back," he pleaded.

"No seriously it's fine. Don't worry about it," you responded, "So we meeting at school?"

"Yeah I got to put up a couple of posters there."

You got in your car and headed to the high school. You parked next to Jonathan's usual spot. The two of you walked into the school together. You were overwhelmed by all the people staring. They were staring at Jonathan, but it still made you anxious. Jonathan just shrugged it off and went to put a poster on the cork board. Since you promised your dad you would go to school you said your goodbyes to Jonathan and headed to your first period class.

You saw Nancy Wheeler and Barbara Holland along with Steve Harrington, Tommy H and his girlfriend Carol. You assumed the three were talking about you and Jonathan considering Steve tried to make your life a living hell ever since you rejected him freshman year. Shockingly, he used to be your friend before Sara died, but like most of your friends he stopped talking to you after she passed. Steve bullied Jonathan too and he always had something against him. Part of it must because of his ego from all the girls at school who swooned over his good looks. They might have even won you over if he wasn't such an asshole. 

You walked past them, but Nancy stopped you to talk to her. You thought Nancy was a nice person and never had anything against except you were a little jealous because you knew about Jonathan's crush on her.

"Hey Y/n, how are things with." Nancy nodded in Jonathan's direction.

"Him and Joyce are about as good as you would expect, but he's keeping it together," you replied.

She gave you a nod and went off to talk to him. You stood with Barb because you refused to be associated with Steve and his friends, and watched them as they talked. They looked in the group's direction, Tommy gave a small wave then a couple seconds later he made a dumbass remark. "I mean look at him, he would totally be the type to kill his brother."

"Tommy I told you to knock it off," Steve snapped.

It made your blood boil. The bell rang and everyone went to class, but you couldn't go after that. You went after Jonathan when he left the building.

"Jonathan wait," you yelled at him as he was getting in his car.

"What are you doing? You promised your dad you would go to school."

"I'll just leave my truck here so if he stops by he'll think I'm in class," you said, "So where are we going?"

"We're going to Lonnie's," he told you.

"See I'm not the only one who doesn't listen to him," you said knowing your dad told him to stay home with his mom.

*****

The car ride was silent for the most part. Jonathan played his music and you concentrated on collecting yourself after what Tommy said. Then The Clash's, "Should I stay or I Should I Go" started playing and you noticed Jonathan white knuckle the steering wheel. You weren't there when Jonathan gave Will the mix tape he made for him, but you remembered Will constantly playing it. Will had mentioned how the song was his favorite. Whenever you drove him somewhere he had the cassette with him and chose the same track. You had also noticed that Will sang the song when he was anxious to try to calm himself down. It depressed you to not hear the boy singing in the background to the song. You tried to focus on the good times when you listened to it, but at the moment you could only fear for Will.

In a short while you reached Indianapolis, apparently that is where Lonnie had ran off to when he left his family behind. The car stopped and Jonathan took a couple seconds to collect his composure in anticipation of facing his father. "It'll be fine, you're not doing this alone," you said soothingly.

You got out and crossed the street to the house. You rocked on the balls of your feet as Jonathan knocked, more like pounded, on the door. You realized that the situation you were about to be put in was going to be extremely awkward for you, but you had to be there for Jonathan. The door opened to reveal a woman you thought was Cynthia. "Can I help you?"

"Yeah, is Lonnie around?" Jonathan asked.

"Yeah, he's out back. What do you want?" she questioned.

"To look around," Johnathan pushed his way into the house. You followed in pursuit and quietly whispered excuse me out of habit.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing? Hey!"

"We'll be fast," he shouted back.

You both looked around to see if Will had been hiding out in one of the rooms. Jonathan went into each room asking if Will was there. There was no response so the both of you turned around, Jonathan leading. When he was about to turn a corner Lonnie grabbed him by the collar and pushed him against the wall. 

"Get off," Jonathan shrugged and pushed his father off him.

"Damn, you've gotten stronger," Lonnie "playfully" hit him on the arm.

"Will someone please explain what the hell is going on?" Cynthia appeared from the living room.

"Jonathan, Cynthia. Cynthia, this is Jonathan." Lonnie introduced them and looked at you, "oh and this is his shadow Y/n." You gave him a scoff in response.

"We need to talk," Jonathan said.

"Okay can we do it outside away from the women." 

"No, Y/n stays with me."

"What did I say, shadow," Lonnie restated. "Fine let's go."

The three of you went to the backyard so Jonathan and Lonnie could talk. Except for Jonathan didn't do much talking. The first thing he did was go straight for the trunk of the car in yard to check it. "Take a look at this beaut," Lonnie said thinking his son was interested in the car. That was until he hurriedly looked in the trunk and walked away from it. "Really? You want to check up my ass, too? I told you the same thing as I told those cops, he's not here and he never has been."

"Then why didn't you call Mom back?"

"I don't know, I just I assumed she just forgot where he was. You know, he was lost or something. That boy never was very good at taking care of himself."

"This isn't some joke, all right? There are search parties, reporters."

"Your dad's not still chief, is he?" Lonnie asked you.

You swear everyone was pushing your buttons today. "You know what yes he is still chief, and you know another thing he is doing a way better job at finding your own son than you are." With that you stormed off and sat in Jonathan's car until he showed up. You felt really bad for leaving Jonathan on his own, but you really couldn't stand Lonnie especially after everything he did. You had lost your temper more than once and you were afraid you were going to start decking his father in face. It probably wasn't going to be long until that happened if the week kept going the way it was.

The driver door opened and Jonathan sat down, "You okay?"

"Shouldn't I be the one asking you that," you reply. "Yeah, I'm fine. I just had to calm down."

"You know even if it is your dad's job, me and my mom do appreciate that he is helping."

"I know, its just I can't seem to catch a break today."

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"I can't tell you."

"Come on Y/n, you can tell me anything."

"It's really messed up. I can't."

Jonathan gave you a look like he was dropping it, but you knew he really wanted to know and that is how he always got you to give in. "It's something Tommy said. He's such an asshole and I don't even know why he said it because it was so fucked up."

"You can't say because..."

"Because I will never repeat the words he said about you. I just don't understand why they can't leave you alone. You have good intentions, but they are just ughhh," you ranted.

Jonathan took your hand to try and calm you down. "Hey it's fine. I don't care if they think that. Your my friend and you know the truth. Isn't that what matters?" 

"I guess, but it still makes me mad that everyone has to bash on the people that I care about. I wish they could see the good I see in you, Hopper, and even Will."

"I know, me too," Jonathan said still holding your hand. The moment lingered then he let go and started the car to drive back to the little town of Hawkins.

*****

It was night by the time you and Jonathan got back to Hawkins. You would have gone home, but your dad was probably not there anyway so it didn't matter if you went or not. Jonathan wanted to go see if he could find anything and take pictures so you tagged along. He stopped at the last place Will had been seen, he looked in one direction. He took a picture of each area like he was a forensic investigator. You followed, but decided it would be a smarter approach to check in another area. There wasn't a whole lot to find so you drifted into your thoughts. 

You remembered last night when you had been out here then you remembered the little girl you found. You were honestly going to make sure that Mike got her home, but with everything that had happened you forgot to. You bet Mike took care of it, he was a smart kid after all. Then you also wondered how the boys were doing. You never got the chance to ask if they were okay since the disappearance of Will. But just like the Byers and you they probably weren't considering how much Will was apart of all of your lives.

You realized you were gone too long and were pretty far away from where Jonathan was. You headed back to where he was, but he wasn't there. You panicked a little and yelled his name, but got no response. For a couple of minutes you walked aimlessly trying to find him. Then you came to a clearing in the forest and saw an outline of a person you recognized as Jonathan. You walked up quietly next to him. You were going to scare him, but then you saw what he was doing. He had been standing in front of Steve Harrington's house taking pictures of it. You looked closer and saw he was taking pictures of what you thought was Nancy Wheeler. As far as you knew he had never took pictures of people like that before. You thought it was a little odd, but hey you weren't a photographer and you didn't understand art.

"What are you doing?" you asked.

He seemed startled at your voice, "oh, uh nothing."

You looked at the pool and saw a lonely redhead sitting on the diving board. It must have been Barb since Nancy was there. You felt bad that she was sitting there by herself. You heard the click of a camera and Jonathan took a picture of Barb and then he quickly took one of you. He knew you didn't like your photo being taken that often, but every once in a while you let him take some of you because he had a serious talent for photography. You whisper shouted a hey. You tried to take the camera from him and he raised it above his head where you couldn't reach. 

"It was a good one. Please let me keep it," he said.

"Only if you don't take anymore."

"Deal."

You looked back at the pool, but Barbara was gone, "Did you see Barb leave?"

"No, but she probably got tired of sitting around. Come on we should go home." Jonathan replied and started walking back.

You checked to be sure that Barb wasn't still there. That's weird you thought, you hadn't looked away that long. She couldn't have been in such a hurry to leave like that. But after all Jonathan was most likely right.


	3. Holly Jolly

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is shorter than the rest, but the next chapter is longer. Depending on how much work I get done, I might post the next chapter today or tomorrow because I feel bad about this update being shorter.

It was 30 minutes after one in the morning by the time Jonathan drove you back into to town to pick up your truck and drive back to your house. When you got home you saw someone else's car there and clothes scattered in the trailer home. Your dad must have thought you were staying at the Byers' and invited one of his "friends" over. You didn't care what he did as along as it wasn't while you were home. You did your best to ignore it and went to your room to get some sleep. 

Your head hit your pillow and the next thing you knew your alarm clock was going off. You groaned at the dreaded noise and repeatedly hit the snooze button. You laid there for a couple of minutes and the alarm went off again. This time you got up, tempted to throw the alarm away. 

You got ready for school, trying to make it look like you didn't only get 5 hours of sleep for the past 2 days. Applying concealer under your dark circles and blush to you cheeks to make you look less like a zombie. Once you were satisfied with how you looked, you went to the kitchen to get something to eat. To your surprise, your dad was already awake and looked ready to go to work. 

"Well you look like-"

"Don't even finish that sentence," you interrupted him. 

"And that is how I know you are my daughter."

You kept scavenging for food. You wished you had coffee, but oh well. You ended up finding an apple that of course you bought because your father would never be caught dead eating fruit.

"Don't you need to be on your way to school?"

You looked at the time and saw that your first class was going to start in 15 minutes. That was why your dad was ready. Great your stupid alarm clock didn't even wake you up at the right time.

"Shit," you grabbed everything you needed and were about to leave.

"Wait, Y/n before you go I need to tell you something. I would rather you hear it from me than the news."

That was never a good thing. You were concerned at what he had to tell you. You sat down on the old couch to hear what your dad had to say.

"Yesterday I was called into Benny's diner to check on him," he took a moment to finish what he saying, but by the sound of his voice you could tell where this was going. He was having a hard time finding the right words so you spoke up, "what happened, well what do you think happened?"

"It... well umm, the scene looked like he committed suicide."

You were shocked. There was no way you were talking about the same Benny Hammond. He was one of your dad's few friends it was hard to believe he was gone and for him to take his own life. That was not the Benny you knew. He was always so happy and excited to start new projects. You knew for a fact he had plans coming up. It just wasn't in his personality to have suicidal thoughts.

"Are you sure this is the same Benny we both know."

"I know I barely believe it myself, but all the evidence says otherwise."

You didn't know how to feel, you weren't close enough to him to grieve his death, it just felt weird that he wasn't there anymore. Something about the whole thing felt off.

"Well there must be something wrong," you said.

"I know and I have already looked into it and if becomes something bigger I will let you know, but for now you have to go to school."

"Oh yeah, I'll see you later." You left the house feeling conflicted, but you had to shake it off for now. With one last thought, you wondered how could things go so bad in your little town in just a few days.

*****

It was your first official day back to school and it was hell. You were so far behind in your classes and the worst were your AP classes. The pile of homework you got from just missing two days made you so unmotivated to do it. By the end of the day the pile was going to be even worse since you still had a couple of classes left. Why did you have to push yourself to do the best, why couldn't you just settle for average then you would only have two or three pieces of homework.

"Are you okay Y/n? You look really stressed," Jonathan asked.

You completely forgot that you were with Jonathan as you stared at the homework in your hands becoming more anxious with each second. "Hmm, oh yeah I'm fine. So, do you have as much homework as I do?"

"No, my teachers gave me a free pass, you know considering." You guessed that made sense. It would be kind of douchey to give him homework when he was worrying about his brother. 

You stopped at your locker to put your work away and Jonathan grabbed his camera from his locker. He wanted to develop the pictures he took last night.

Once he got everything he needed, you went to the darkroom that the school had. You knew the room well from spending so many lunches watching Jonathan process his photos. The red tint from the light was a little unsettling, but it felt like home from being in there so often.

"So you gonna tell me why you were taking photos of them last night or I am just gonna sit here thinking my best friend might be a stalker?" you jokingly asked.

"Um, well I'm not a stalker. I just... I don't know, it's like people don't say how they really feel, but when I take a photo of them it captures what they really want to say. It is easier for me communicate what they are saying through photos than actually talking to them," he confessed.

"That makes sense."

"You don't have to lie to me, I know it's weird."

"No I mean it Jonathan. Everyone has a way of seeing things and yours is through photography. You shouldn't be ashamed of it," you stated. The boy didn't seem convinced, but didn't argue you on it.

Jonathan was finishing up the photos and you were admiring how well you actually looked in the picture he took of you. You took a moment to look at the other photos and wondered what Jonathan thought they were saying. Then Nicole, another photography student, walked in and said hey. You both greeted her, but she noticed Jonathan's pictures and at first glance they were odd. You saw the look on her face and she seemed weirded out. Jonathan scrambled to put them away. You helped him then you both left. You hoped she didn't get a good look of them to be able to tell who was in the picture. You knew most wouldn't be accepting of his photos. If only people took the time to understand him. 

*****

Lunch was over and you went to your last classes of the day. To bad your next class was with Nicole. It was really awkward noticing the looks she would give you. Then you saw her turn to Steve and tell him something. You knew it could only be trouble. When class ended you rushed to leave before you could be stopped by either of them and you succeeded. The rest of the day you didn't see either one of them and hadn't seen the rest of Steve's friends too. You thought you got away with it until you were walking out the school with Jonathan to his car.

You saw all of them leaning on Jonathan's car as if they had been waiting for him. 

"Hey, man." Steve spoke up upon seeing Jonathan.

"What's going on?" Jonathan questioned and you tensed knowing this wasn't going to end well.

"Nicole here was, uh, telling us about your work." Steve answered.

"We've heard great things. - Yeah, sounds cool." Tommy and Carol put in their two cents.

"And we'd just love to take a look. You know, as connoisseurs of art."

"I didn't know you knew such large vocabulary words Steve, but we have no clue what you're talking about," you retorted. You both moved towards the car to leave the conversation, but Tommy took Jonathan's bag.

"Hey. Please, give me my bag." he turned to get it back. Tommy passed it to Steve and you both knew there was no getting it back at that point.

"No, just Man, he is totally trembling. He must really have something to hide." Steve said.

"C'mon, just give his bag back" you pleaded, but your efforts proved fruitless. 

Steve opened the bag, "Ah here we go." He pulled out the photos that were developed at lunch and with each one he looked more and more disgusted, "Oh, man."

"Let me see," Tommy was curious at Steve's findings. He took one look at them and turned to Jonathan weirded out, "dude."

Carol wanted to see what all the fuss was about, "Yeah, this isn't creepy at all."

"I was looking for my brother." Jonathan defended himself.

"No. No, this is called stalking." Steve stated. Then unlucky for you, he took a look at the last photo that happened to be yours. "And by the looks of it Y/n was there with you too. You would think she'd know stalking is illegal since her dad is chief, even if he sucks at his job." Steve said as he held the photo to the rest of the group.

You were starting to lose it. If you were provoked even more you would probably start a fight. You saw Nancy approaching the group. "What's going on?" she asked.

"Here's the starring lady," Tommy said.

"What?" she was clearly confused.

"This creep and his weirdo friend were spying on us last night," Carol informed Nancy. She continued to throw jabs at Jonathan, "He was probably gonna save this one for later."

She handed Nancy a photo and Nancy looked shocked at what she saw. Jonathan was completely humiliated and couldn't bring himself to look at anyone. You stood there clenching your fists, ready to throw punches if you had to. 

"See, you can tell that he knows it was wrong, but Man, that's the thing about perverts It's hardwired into 'em," Steve lifted Jonathan's collar, degrading him further. You were just about to push Steve's hand away, but he moved. "You know, they just can't help themselves," then he ripped all the photos in his hands.

"So we'll just have to take away his toy," Steve went to grab the camera from on top of the car.

"Steve," Nancy tried to stop him.

"No, please, not the camera." Jonathan moved to get his camera back, but Tommy stood in his way.

"No, no, wait, wait Tommy, Tommy. It's okay." Steve turned around with the camera in hand.

"Steve don't be a dick, give his camera back." The only reason you had been quiet until then was because you were focusing on not beating up the teenager in front of you.

"Yeah, okay. Here you go man," he held the camera out for Jonathan to take. Jonathan went to grab it, but Steve dropped it and it shattered on the ground. 

"Come on, let's go. The game's about to start." Steve said and the group left.

You didn't even have time to react and they were gone before you could even make a move. Jonathan instantly started picking up pieces of his broken camera. You were about to go after them, but Jonathan noticed and said, "Y/n don't."

You really wanted to go punch Steve in his stupid smug face, but you listened to Jonathan. You helped pick up the torn pieces of the pictures so no one else would see them. You noticed Nancy was still there. She picked up some pieces too. Then you heard the voice you didn't want to hear again, "Hey, Nance! Come on."

That was her cue to leave. She rustled with the pieces and stuffed them in her bag and left. The wind picked up and the photos started to fly away. Once you both were done picking up what you could, Jonathan got in his car and you got in your orange truck. You were beyond pissed with King Steve and his stupid entourage.

*****

You dropped off your car at the police station because you planned on meeting your dad there later. Jonathan followed you and you got in his car. Normally you would go out so Jonathan could take photos. It was calming to go into nature and look at the beautiful sights. Now thinking about how you could no longer do that made you very upset. Steve had taken the last joy in this world that Jonathan had at the moment. All the while he was worrying about his missing brother. 

"Y/n, you need to calm down," Jonathan broke the silence.

"Calm down, he broke your camera! You should be pissed, why are you so calm?" you argued.

"Because there's nothing I can do about it now."

"This ain't the Jonathan I know. You hate Steve."

"Yeah, well what did you want me to do? Start a fight with him when I was clearly in the wrong," Jonathan said surprisingly calm.

"You did nothing wrong," you retorted.

"Really because last time I checked taking someone's picture without them knowing is frowned upon."

"Its called a candid photo," you stated matter of factly, proud at learning something from hanging out with a photographer so often.

"Okay let's not start a dumb fight because of Steve Harrington," Jonathan was trying to defuse the situation.

"Well the next time I see him I'm going to punch him."

"And I wouldn't blame you for it."

Most of the night was spent again trying to find Will. When the two of you had picked the land dry of clues, you listened to music until it was late. Jonathan drove back to his home where you were planning on getting dinner then going home. But the world had other plans for you. 

The car was driving down the dark path that lead to the Byers' house. A figure appeared in front of the car and Jonathan stepped on the brakes. You realized it was Joyce and Jonathan got out of the car. "Mom?" he said.

The woman looked panicked and out of the breathe. She must have ran all the way out here since there was not a car in sight.

"Mom, what happened," Jonathan asked and went to comfort her, "it's okay, hey."

You stayed in the car watching what was happening. You wondered why she was all the way out here on her own. You hoped everything was alright, but it was too late to hope when the red and blue lights started flashing in the side view mirrors. Then followed the police sirens. Everything was not all right. 


	4. The Body

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I didn't get this chapter out yesterday. I just got my work done and did my final edits on this. I hope you enjoy.

"A trooper found something in the, uh water that's at the quarry. Our working theory right now is that Will crashed his bike, he made his way over the quarry and, uh accidentally fell in-" The room was spinning as the words spilled from your father's mouth. He was gone, the sweetest boy you knew was taken from the world. All of it seemed like a dream. No, it was more like a nightmare. It couldn't be real. You even tried to pinch yourself awake, but you were still standing in the Byers' living room listening to the rest of what your father had to say.

"-The earth must have given way. Joyce? Joyce? Do you understand what I'm saying?"

"No, whoever you found is not my boy," Joyce was brought out of her thoughts, "It's not Will."

"Joyce."

"No, you don't understand. I talked to him a half hour ago," she walked over to the wall and lifted up some Christmas lights. "He was... he was here. He was... he was talking with these."

"Talking?" your dad asked.

"Uh-huh. One blink for yes, two for no," she set down the lights to show what she had done to the wall. "And... and, uh... and then I made this so he could talk to me." The wall had the alphabet written on it and each letter had a corresponding light above it. "'Cause he was hiding... from that... that thing," Joyce pointed to the wall where she said a monster came from.

"The thing that came out of the wall? The thing that chased you?"

"Yeah. - Yeah."

You and Jonathan had been standing on side of room, taking in the information, but Jonathan couldn't listen to his mother ramble on anymore. You really wanted to believe Joyce, but what she was saying was crazy. You knew how a person's brain could make up stuff just to make it seem like someone they lost was still there.

"Mom, come on, please," Jonathan moved from the side of the room to console Joyce.

"No, maybe he's," she continued.

"You've gotta stop this," Jonathan pleaded.

"It's after him! He's in danger, we have to find him!" Joyce turned back to your father, taking quick panicked breaths.

"What exactly was this thing? It was some kind of animal, you said?" your dad questioned.

"Uh, no, it was... it was almost... human, but it wasn't. It... it had these long arms and it didn't have a face," she answered him.

Jonathan had heard enough and walked away from the conversation and right past you. You took a moment to decide the best approach and thought it was best to follow him. He almost slammed the door on you, but he let you into his room then closed the door. You sat on his bed and didn't say anything and he didn't either. It wasn't a time to talk, you just had to be there for him. You couldn't believe Will was gone. You couldn't believe that Jonathan had lost his little brother. You couldn't believe that he had to go through the same pain you went through when Sara passed. You wouldn't have wished that pain on anyone and now your best friend had to go through it. That is why you had to be there for him because he was there for you. But it was different, Jonathan didn't know Sara. He didn't have to grieve her. You knew Will, you considered him family. It was like you could feel the pain of losing another sibling. But you had to be strong for the whole Byers' family.

You were pulled out of your thoughts by the sound of hushed sobs. You recognized them coming from Jonathan. Then you noticed the tears that were streaming down your face. You didn't realize you had starting crying too. You wiped up the tears with your sleeves of your sweater and turned to Jonathan. "You know I'll always be there for you, Jonathan." 

You didn't need an answer, you had to make sure he knew. You laid down on the bed and tried to sleep, but you let grief take you for one night so you could be strong the next day. Thoughts swirling through your head and your crying kept you up. You tried to be quiet so you wouldn't worry Jonathan. He shouldn't be put under more pressure. Eventually your body got too tired to keep crying. You fell into a slumber and didn't even realize it.

*****

The sunlight seeping through the window awoke you. You saw that Jonathan actually fell asleep and you did your best to be quiet so he could get some more sleep. You went into the living room to see Joyce asleep on the couch with an ax in her hands. It was mildly concerning to say the least, but considering she felt threatened by some creature it probably made her feel safe having something to protect her. 

You turned to leave and saw out the window that your dad's car was still there. He most likely stayed there all night too. You went to the kitchen and got some food he would actually eat and headed out to the car. The closer you got to the vehicle you could see that he set his hat on top of his face meaning he was asleep. You knocked on the glass and he sprung to life and the hat fell off. He opened the door when he realized it was only you. 

"I brought you some food."

He mumbled a thank you and took the food from you.

"I see you have a soft spot for the Byers'," you teased.

"I was going to come by in the morning anyway thought it was only easier to stay. Besides what if I wanted to make sure you were okay."

"Yeah, okay I believe you," you said sarcastically at which he rolled his eyes at you.

You left him to eat his food and went back into the house. Jonathan had woken up and was trying to wake his mom when you entered the house.

"Mom, wake up," he shook her to get her to leave her dreamworld.

"What... what time is it?" Joyce asked groggily.

"It's almost 8:00. We have to go," he told her.

"Go where? Where?" Joyce was confused as to where she had to go. You wished you didn't understand what Jonathan meant, but it was time to go identify the youngest Byers.

"To see Will."

*****

You had been sitting in the waiting room of the morgue for quite sometime. Though you couldn't tell if it was the standard amount of time. When your father started to get impatient, you knew it was taking longer than expected.

"What's taking so long?" he asked the receptionist.

"Well, everything's been a bit chaotic around here without Gary," she responded.

"Without Gary? Where's Gary?" he continued to be the detective he was.

"Well, I thought you knew. Those men from State, they... they sent Gary home last night."

"So who did the autopsy?"

"Someone from State," she answered your dad.

Your face contorted in confusion. That didn't make any sense. Why would someone from State have to come to do the autopsy. As much as you loved Will, he wasn't someone who was important to the government. So what was the purpose of having someone that wasn't from the city department do the autopsy. What was going on in the town of Hawkins, you thought.

The door that lead to the morgue opened and out walked Jonathan. His skin was a sickly pale. Seeing Will must have been too much for him. He looked around and took the empty sit next to you. 

After a couple more minutes you were beginning to get restless and stood up to at least stretch your legs. Once again your father took it upon himself to fill the silence.

"How's your mom doing?" he turned to ask Jonathan.

"I don't know." 

"How long's this stuff been going on? With the lights and, uh Will and the thing in the wall?"

"Since the first phone call, I guess," Jonathan replied, "You know, she's had anxiety problems in the past. But this I don't know. I'm worried it could be Ugh, I don't know." He took a moment to breathe, "She'll be okay. We'll be okay. My mom... she's tough."

"Yeah, she is," your dad squeezed Jonathan's shoulder for extra reassurance, "Hey. She is." Jonathan gave him a smile in response.

As if called on cue Joyce rushed through the door followed by the state coroner, "Ma'am! Ma'am, I need you to sign!"

"I don't... I don't know what you think that thing is in there, but that is not my son!" she shouted at the man.

What could she have possible seen that made her think that wasn't Will. You grew more concerned for the woman, but Jonathan had seemed to be getting tired of it.

"Joyce, wait a second," your dad attempted to calm her.

"No!," she responded and walked out of the office.

"Mom!"

"Joyce," Jonathan and you called after her as the coroner kept pushing her to sign the legal documentation.

Jonathan grabbed his jacket and rushed after her. In which you went after the both of them and left your father there dumbfounded. Once you got out the door, Jonathan was looking around to see which way his mom went. Both of you already lost her and she just left the building seconds ago. The next best option was to drive around to find her. Jonathan got in the driver seat of his car and you got in the passenger. He drove down the street until you spotted her and told him by pointing to her. He slowed down the car and moved to the side of the street. He rolled down the passenger window so he could talk to her, "Mom, will you get in?"

"No, I... I need to think. Just go on home," she said as if he would give up at hearing that.

"Mom, will you just get in, please?" she ignored him and continued to walk down the sidewalk. Jonathan stopped the car and got out to confront Joyce. He called after her to get her to stop, "Mom." When she didn't stop he ran across the street after her and you were still getting out of the car.

Jogging over, you caught up to them and Joyce had finally stopped to talk to him, "Just go home, Jonathan."

"No, this is not an okay time for you to shut down," he snapped.

"Shut down? What..."

"We have to deal with this, Mom. We have to deal with the funeral!"

"The funeral? For... for who? For that thing back there?" she raised her voice and pointed in the direction of the coroner's office.

"Okay, let me get this straight. Will, that's not his body, because he's in the lights, right? And there's a monster in the wall? Do you even hear yourself?"

By now people were starting to gather and listen to what the family was arguing about. You put your hand on your forehead attempting to cover your face, thinking that Jonathan and Joyce were about give the town a show that they would talk about for weeks.

"I know it sounds crazy. I sound crazy! You think I don't know that? It is crazy! But I heard him, Jonathan. He talked to me! Will is... is calling to me!" she said as if it was that simple to understand. "And he's out there, and he's alone, and he's scared, and I... I don't care if anyone believes me! I am not gonna stop looking for him until I find him and bring him home. I am going to bring him home!" Joyce turned on her heels and the left the conversation.

"Yeah, well, while you're talking to the lights, the rest of us are having a funeral for Will! I'm not letting him sit in that freezer another day!" Jonathan yelled at his mother's retreating figure.

"All right, show's over." he said to the crowd that had gathered and walked back to his car.

"Haven't you people got anything better to do with your lives," you sassed then followed Jonathan.

Before he got in the car you spoke up. You'd been wondering how the boys had taken the recent events and since you were in town you wanted to check on them.

"Hey, I'm going to go check up on the boys. You know... see how they are holding up," you told Jonathan.

He understood what you meant, "Okay, do you want me to drive you there?"

"No it's fine. I'll walk just... where should I meet you after."

"Well, I'm going to be make plans for," he took a moment, "for the funeral. So just meet me..."

"Okay, I'll see you there," you cut him off so he didn't have to finish that sentence. You knew how it was going to end. He would be at the funeral home. With that he got in the car and left and you started walking to the Wheeler's to first see how Mike was doing then to find out what ever happened to that girl.

*****

You knocked on the door to the Wheeler residence and heard multiple footsteps on the other side of the door. Then heard what sounded like Mike shush whoever else was there. After a couple of seconds someone spoke up, the voice belonging to Dustin, "Who is it? Is it them?"

The door flung open for you to see Mike, Lucas, and Dustin look frightened at what they where going to face.

"Oh its just Y/n," Lucas said.

"Well its nice to see you too," you responded. "Were you expecting anyone else?"

"No, No." Mike said way too quickly.

"Is everything okay with you boys?" you asked.

"Yeah everything is fine, why wouldn't it be?" he rushed to get the words out.

"For one, you look a little scared, two you are talking really fast, and three..." you didn't know how to make it sound like you weren't a complete and utter bitch so you just said it. "You look more scared than you look like a have just lost a friend. So what is going on?"

"Everyone grieves in their own way, Y/n." Mike stated as you moved away from the front door and headed down to the basement where they usually hung out. "Wait, don't go down there."

"Too late," you shouted back as you went down the stairs. 

When you reached the bottom you couldn't believe what you were looking at. The girl you found was still in Mike's house. How could he have not listened to you and got this poor girl home. More questions came to you, if she was still here did that mean that Mrs.Wheeler didn't even know this girl had been here for almost 3 days. "Mike, what the hell is this?"

"This is... is Eleven," he replied.

"This is not a time for jokes young man, why is she still here?"

"Well, there is a very good explanation for that if you just hear me out," he said.

"Oh, I can't wait to hear this," Lucas was still against the idea of keeping her there.

"Okay I'm listening so you better start talking," you said to get him to continue.

"So I was going to tell my mom then we were looking at pictures and... and she recognized Will and started saying other stuff about him."

"And how does she know Will?" you questioned.

"Because she has psychic powers," Dustin cut into the conversation. That threw you off and now you almost didn't want to listen to the rest of what Mike had to say.

"Not the right time, Dustin." Mike snapped at his friend.

" What else did she say about Will?" you decided you would hear the rest of their possibly made up story.

"This is going to sound completely crazy, but just listen. She said that Will was... was..."

"Just spit it out, Mike."

"She said the Demogorgon got him," he finally revealed.

"And you said she had superpowers. Is this all apart of your D&D game? Are you messing with me?" you said in complete disbelief.

"No Y/n, we're being serious," he pleaded.

"Let me guess she also said that it was a faceless creature." you said sarcastically remembering the monster Joyce saw.

"No she didn't say anything about what it looked like," he said confused, but the girl on the floor winced at your words seeming to know what you were talking about. "There's another thing, last night she used my walkie talkie and connected to some interference." Mike was uncertain about what he said like he was keeping part of the story from you. "Long story short we need to get her to the middle school to use av club equipment, but she needs a disguise so can you help us."

"Why does she need a disguise?" you asked.

"See there was another reason why she's still here. She said she knows people."

"What kind of people are we talking about?"

"Bad people."

"Bad, how?" he simply answered your question by raising a hand gun to your forehead.

You gulped, choosing to believe this part of his story since the girl was in a tough situation when you found her, "Oh okay, so what you are saying is I have potentially put you boys and my life in danger."

"So you believe me about the bad people, but not the other stuff," Mike huffed.

"People are real Mike," you stated, "So that's why you want me to disguise her." All three boys nodded in response. "Okay I will only do it because I don't want to die," you told them. You recalled what Mike said earlier, "One more thing what does eleven have to do with her?"

"Eleven is her name, but you can call her El for short."

Wanting to hurry and help them, you asked, "What's the plan to disguise El?"

"We were going to find her some new clothes, maybe a wig, and put some make up on her. Now that you are here you can help with the make up part. We will find her some clothes," Mike told you the plan.

"You have make up?"

"Just use Nancy's. I already got it out. It's in her room."

"Okay, I guess let's go El," you said unsure of the situation you were in. The girl got up from ground following you up to Nancy's room.

You thought about all the information you gathered from the day so far and things were slowly starting to make a little sense. You thought about the people from state that randomly showed up. What if they were the bad people. And you thought of Benny and how things didn't add up about his death. Then you realized you had found Eleven very close to the diner. What if the bad people were looking for El, and Benny was at the wrong place at the wrong time. And now somehow Will was involved with them and that's why state did the autopsy and not Gary. With how El seemed to know about the monster with no face made things even weirder. What if Joyce was right. You couldn't be sure, but if she was right then maybe Will could still be alive.

*****

You wouldn't say you were a make up artist, but you could do a very natural look. You didn't think a girl her age needed to wear so much make up anyway, so you just added a little color to her pale skin and some blush to her cheeks. You topped it off with a light pink lipstick. To fill the silence you attempted to start a conversation with Eleven. "I hope you have been alright here. If I knew you were still here, I would have checked up on you."

She didn't say anything back. It seemed she was still as quiet as ever, but at least you knew why she was now. "I'm sure Mike made sure you were fine, though. He causes a lot of trouble, but he's a good kid. All three of those boys are good."

You put the finishing touches on her make up and said, "Well, I think you're done."

El looked at you with curiosity in her eyes, "Pretty?"

At first you were surprised she talked to you then were confused about her question, but realized she was referring to herself. "Yeah, you're very pretty, but don't think you need make up to look pretty," you told her truthfully. "I am going to see if the boys found those clothes. I'll be right back." You went downstairs and got the rest of the disguise then you and the boys went back upstairs.

You gave Eleven the clothes and she changed. Then she needed help putting on her blonde wig so you assisted her. She walked out of Nancy's room and you noticed everyone's shocked faces.

"Wow, she looks..."

Mike cut Dustin off, "Pretty... good. You look pretty good."

You couldn't lie that is was cute to see that Mike had formed a little crush on the girl.

Eleven walked to the mirror down the hall where she finally got to see what you and Mike were talking about. When she looked in the mirror she wore the same astonished face as the others, "Pretty... good."

*****

It was time for you to go back to see Jonathan, and the boys and Eleven left to the middle school. You decided to drop by the police station to pick up your car so you wouldn't have to walk around the whole town. You saw your Dad's truck there and went in to say a quick hi. When you walked in he had been talking to someone. You didn't want to interrupt them so you waited until he was done. You knew you shouldn't have done it, but you eavesdropped on their conversation.

"So, Gary, tell me about these troopers that brought in Will," the voice of your dad said.

"It was about six of 'em, I'd say," Gary, you assumed was the coroner, recalled the past events. 

"They're all Staties?"

"Yes, sir. Never seen that many troopers come with a body before." That made no sense it wouldn't take 6 troopers to transport Will. Things were getting more and more suspicious with new given knowledge of the bad people.

"They told you that they were gonna take care of the autopsy, huh?"

"Yeah. Claimed jurisdiction. Kicked me out. Well, it all seemed a bit over the top to me, considering..."

"Considering what?"

"Considering this was Will Byers and not John F. Kennedy."

"Thanks for stopping by, Gary."

You moved from your spot when you heard someone start walking down the hall. You acted like you had just entered the department and the person you presumed was Gary walked right past you. As per usual you announced your presence and your dad turned around to face you. You could physically see the gears turning in his brain as he tried to figure out what was going on in his town. You were going to drop the subject until you saw the look on his face, like he was thinking exactly what you were trying to figure out. You made sure that no one else was around and started questioning him.

"Why does State need six people to take care of a 12 year old Will Byers?"

"Why are you listening to an official police investigation?" your dad turned your question into another.

"To be fair you aren't exactly conducting your interviews in your office, it was basically public knowledge. But seriously what is going on?"

"Y/n this is dangerous work I can't tell you," you gave him a look that you meant business. He shook his head and finally gave in, "Look honestly I have no clue, but I'm going to figure it out." He grabbed his stuff and headed out the door. You were concerned he was going to do something stupid, but at the same time it was the first time that he was being serious about his job again. With nothing left to do there, you left the station, got in your truck, and went to meet Jonathan at the funeral home.

*****

You parked and walked to the entrance of the funeral home. Out of the corner of your eye you thought you saw someone walking right towards you. You looked to the side and saw Nancy Wheeler. The last time you saw her was very awkward so you kept your head down and tried to avoid eye contact.

"Hey, Y/n wait up," her voice spoke up.

You contemplated just ignoring her, but she obviously knew where you were going so you waited for her.

"I was looking for you and Jonathan, is he here too?" she looked like she really needed to talk to you. After what happened yesterday, you were confused as to why she was so desperate to talk to the both of you.

"Umm, yeah he should be inside." you answered her.

The two of you walked down the hall looking for the room that Jonathan was in. One of the doors were open and you looked inside to see him talking to some man. You and Nancy stood in the doorway. 

"Can you just give me a second?" he told the man at the sight of both of you. The man obliged and Jonathan went to greet the both of you. He was mostly confused why Nancy was there.

"Hey," he said.

"Hey, your mom, um she said you'd be here and then I ran into Y/n and she kind of confirmed it," she was getting nervous and kept talking. She realized she was getting off track and said, "I just... Can we talk for a second?"

The three of you went down the hall so Nancy could say what she wanted to. She had pulled out a photo from her backpack. She showed it to the two of you. It was a photo of Barbara, the one Jonathan took a couple nights ago right before she suddenly disappeared. Nancy pointed to the side of the photo were it was blurry and asked if you had known what it was. You told her you didn't know cameras well. Jonathan took the photo and looked at it more so he could deduce what it was.

"It looks like it could be some kind of perspective distortion, but I wasn't using the wide angle. I don't know. It's weird." Jonathan finally said.

"And you're both sure you didn't see anyone else out there?" she questioned.

You shook your head and Jonathan said no.

"She was there one second and then, she was gone," you told Nancy.

"We figured she bolted," Jonathan said.

"The cops think that she ran away, but they don't know Barb. And I went back to Steve's and I thought I saw something. Some weird man or I don't know what it was," she spoke about what was on her mind, but what she said made a spark of curiosity light in Jonathan's eyes. With all the talk of creatures coming from walls and demogorgons and now this weird man, it made you wonder if they were all connected.

"I'm sorry. I... I shouldn't have come here today. I'm... I'm so sorry." she suddenly said and got up from her seat and headed toward the exit.

Before she was gone Jonathan asked, "What did he look like?"

She turned around, puzzled that he was even asking her what this man she saw looked like, "What?"

"This man you saw in the woods. What'd he look like?"

"I don't know. It was almost like he... he didn't have--" she stammered.

"Didn't have a face?" you finished for her.

She looked terrified from what you said, "How did you know that?"

"Because my mom saw it too," Jonathan informed her. "If we go to the school's dark room, I can edit the photo to see if it is what you saw."

She mumbled an okay and the three of you left to the high school to see if this thing was real or not.

*****

Jonathan went to work on making the photo visible. He hadn't told you or Nancy in specific what he was doing to the photo so you both stood by as he did his work.

"And you're," Nancy questioned what he was doing.

"Brightening. Enlarging," he said focused on his task.

"Did your mom say anything else? Like, um, where it might have gone to, or..."

"No, just that it came out of the wall," the machine dinged and he placed the photo in a tub to develop.

"How long does this take?" she said getting impatient.

"Not long."

"Have you been doing this a while?"

"What?"

"Photography?"

"Yeah, I guess I'd rather observe people than, you know..."

"Talk to them."

"I know. It's weird."

"No!"

"No, it is. It's just, sometimes people don't really say what they're really thinking. But you capture the right moment it says more," you recognized what he had said as what he told you just the day before. For some reason a rush of jealousy washed over you. It didn't feel right that he was okay to share his secrets with someone he barely talks to when most of the time he didn't tell you what was going on in his mind.

"What was I saying?" Nancy broke you out of your thoughts.

"What?"

"When you took my picture." At this point it felt wrong that you were listening to them talk like it was a private conversation. 

"I shouldn't have taken that. I'm, uh I'm sorry. It's just..."

You were about to leave the room to let them talk, but Nancy interrupted Jonathan to say, "That's it." You moved over to see what she was talking about it. You all looked at the photo.

"That's what I saw." The thing in the photo was disturbing. It appeared to be just what Joyce and Nancy said it was, a man with no face, but it was more than that it gave off a feeling of uneasy. You couldn't believe Joyce had to face this creature. She must have been so upset that everyone thought she was crazy when in reality she had really seen something.

"My mom, I thought she was crazy 'cause she said that's not Will's body. That he's alive."

"And if he's alive." 

"Then Barbara."

*****

After learning about your new found information, you wanted to tell your dad. You didn't know how to. You thought about just telling him the part about Will so he could continue his investigation. Also because you didn't want to tell him about the monster actually being real since he would probably think you were crazy too. You left Nancy and Jonathan at the school and went to the police station to find him. You checked his office, but he wasn't there. You went to the front desk to see if Flo knew where he was.

"Hey Flo, have you seen Hopper?"

She glanced away from her paperwork to see it was you, "I think he said he was going to the coroner's office," she answered your question and started to walk out of the office. "And why do insist on calling your father that," she scolded you.

Instead of answering her you told her thank you for telling you where he was. You got in your truck and went to the morgue. Arriving there the receptionist looked at you and asked, "Can I help you, miss?"

"Um, I think the chief's here and he's my dad. Is it okay if go back to see if he's there?" she gave you a nod and you went back to find him.

You walked down the bright corridor and came to an open door with a guy passed out in front of it. It put you a little on edge and you went to investigate what was in the room. You saw a light on and knew there was someone there. When you turned the corner you saw your dad standing there with one of the drawer's to the freezer for bodies open. You saw it was "Will's" body. The last thing you noticed was the knife in his hand cutting into the body. 

"What the hell are you doing?" you yelled at him. You knew that wasn't Will's body, but the fact that your dad was just slashing into a body, that he didn't know wasn't Will's, made you unsettled.

At hearing your voice he was about ready to fight whoever it was. When he saw it was just you, he calmed. The look you must be giving him made him not question why you were there, but try to explain to you what he was doing.

"Hey, hey... you know how things weren't right with State showing up. I found out some more things from a guy who found Will, he said that the Troopers told him not to get too close to the body," he was trying to defuse the situation with you. "So I... I decided to take a look at the body for myself. Well whatever they told him was right because this isn't even a body." He moved away from the table and there was stuffing coming out of "Will's" chest. You walked up to the drawer to get a better look and your father was right it was nothing more than a dummy.

"So what are we going to do now?" you asked him.

"You are going to do nothing. I'm going to find out the truth."

"Well if you're going, I'm going too."

"Umm, no you're not. It is way too dangerous so why would I even think about bringing you."

"I am not some little girl. I can take care of myself and I have for most of my life." you started guilt tripping him, plus you were getting upset that he didn't think you could protect yourself. "I know how to defend myself so I'm going and if you don't let me go with you, I'll follow you to wherever you're going." 

He didn't say anything. If he did he would have started yelling at you and that would alert someone. He walked out the building and you took that as him saying yes. When you got in his car he didn't object, he most likely thought it over and realized that you were stubborn enough to follow him and he would rather know you were safe with him than by yourself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The chapters after this, including this one, are longer than normal and updates will continue on Saturdays. Thank you for reading.


	5. The Flea and the Acrobat

Hawkins Lab, that was your destination, where all the people from state were coming from. Before you exited the vehicle your dad stopped to talk to you. "When we go in, you follow me and don't leave my sight. Keep your mouth shut and don't say anything. Do you understand?" you gave him a nod in response. "You remember how to use this," you nodded and he handed you the pistol that he taught you to use if you were ever in danger. "You only use it if you absolutely need to, okay?"

"Okay."

You got out of the truck and your father picked up a pair of wire cutters. He walked up to the chain link fence and cut a hole in it, big enough for the both of you to get through. Your dad took lead and you followed behind him. The two of you moved quickly and quietly to go by unnoticed. You reached the building and your dad stopped before passing a side door. You hid behind the corner until someone walked out and opened the door. Your dad moved from his spot and grabbed the door before it closed. You entered Hawkins Lab and followed you father's movements down the halls. When someone walked down the hall the both of you hid behind a door and waited till they passed. You came out of your hiding spot and continued to roam the halls. You and your dad reached another corridor with a bio-hazard sheet covering it. Your dad sighed, opened the covering and went down the new hallway. There was a fork in road, "Go check down there, but if you find anything come back right away," your dad whispered.

You complied and cautiously walked down the hallway. You heard someone speaking from where you just left, but it didn't sound like your dad.

"Hands up. Hands up!" the voice said. You quietly rushed back to where you left your dad. 

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa," your dad tried ease whoever he was talking to.

"Forgot all the cameras, bub?"

"Look, Dr.Brenner asked for me specifically. Okay? How else do you think I got in here?"

"What's your name again?"

You peaked around the corner to see two guys holding guns to him. "It's Jim Hopper. Chief Jim Hopper."

The one closest to your dad moved to get something from his suit jacket, "Yeah, I've got Jim Hopper--" When he took his eyes off your dad, the man didn't notice him moving to punch him in the face. You took that as your opportunity to move from your spot. You took your pistol and hit the last guy with the butt of the gun to knock him out. Your dad saw a key card on the man you just knocked out.

"Hey you mind if I borrow this one?" he said to the unconscious man as he picked it up. 

He swiped the key on the card reader and the door buzzed and opened. You both walked through it and when the door closed your dad shot the card reader on the other side of the door. He continued his search and started to yell Will's name hoping he would find him. You walked into a room that had a stuffed animal on a bed and a drawing on the wall. It felt odd that a child's room was in the middle of Hawkins Lab.

You left the room and your dad was still shouting Will's name. Alarms went off signaling your presence to the rest of the building. At hearing the alarms, you and your father picked up your pace trying to find Will. You reached an elevator and your dad frantically pressed the button. As you were waiting for it to arrive, you heard voices approaching the two of you. The doors opened and you got in the elevator and your dad pressed one of the buttons. Right as the doors were closing guards arrived telling you to stop, but it was too late.

The elevator reached the bottom and opened. Somehow it felt like the atmosphere had gotten darker and there were little wisps that looked like ash floating in the air. It was all so eerie as you walked down the corridor guided by your father's flashlight. The things in the air made it difficult to breathe and you and your dad began to cough.

You came to a room that had a tank in it, but that wasn't the weird part. The walls were covered in tendrils and the air seemed worse in this room. On the far wall from the door there was a slit in the wall. It was like all the tendrils were coming from the hole in the wall. You and your dad walked closer to the hole and you could see it was made of some weird, fleshy, gooey substance. 

Suddenly there was a swift sound that ran across the room behind you and your dad turned around taking out his gun for protection. You followed in suit. He walked forward and a person in a hazmat suit appeared. Your dad yelled at them to back up, and you felt a pinch in your neck and someone covering your mouth. Then all you could see was nothing, just darkness.

*****

You woke up in a panic. You reached to feel your neck as if there was still a needle in it. You took in your surroundings. The bed, the room, the clothes, they had all been yours. It felt like one of the nights when you were a kid and you fell asleep in the living room and in the morning you woke up in your room like it was magic. But, it wasn't your parents who had moved you last night and it wasn't magic. It was terrifying. You were drugged by a corporation who moved you from across town to your own bed. The sound of things being thrown and dropped in your house made you more anxious. What if they were still there, you thought. You got out of your bed to see what was going on, sneaking into the living to see your dad destroying everything you owned.

"Whoa," you couldn't bring bring yourself to say anything else.

He moved to face you and didn't say anything, but placed his index finger to his mouth to signaled you to be quiet. Why, you had so many questions about why he was trashing your house. He kept tearing things apart. He took apart the phone and there was a giant tear in the couch. When the floor was covered in trash, he looked over the room to see if he missed a spot. He looked up and saw the ceiling light remained untouched. He shoved the trash out of his way to unscrew the bowl from the light and picked off a piece of wire from the light. He looked like he had found exactly what he was looking for, but you wore a face of shock when you realized what he had been holding. They put a microphone in your house. What else could you except from them though. You were more shocked at what your life had become. He removed it from the inside the house so you could talk.

"Hey, look at me... everything is going to be alright okay," your dad must have read the panic on your face. "Now you listen to me, these people are dangerous. I don't want you a part of this anymore. Do you understand? You are not to go after them at all and I don't want to hear anything otherwise." 

You didn't object because you didn't want to start a fight. After what you saw last night you knew the problem wasn't the people, but whatever that hole in the wall had contained. From what you had gathered it was mostly likely the monster you saw in Jonathan's photo. Your dad didn't say anything about you going after the monster and you weren't about to tell him just so he could say it was off limits too. Eventually getting you put under house arrest when you did go after because if you were being honest nothing was going to keep you from hunting it down.

You looked at the time and you were beyond late for not real Will's funeral. "Okay, well I've got to go."

"What did I just tell you?" your dad thought you were going to disobey his orders.

"Calm down, I'm not going after them. I am going pretend like I'm a normal teenager who didn't see what she just saw and go to Will's funeral. As normal as that can get." 

You got ready as fast as you could and went out of your house to see your 1969 orange truck sitting in the lawn. Those people from Hawkins Lab were really trying to make it seem like you hadn't witnessed what you did. Before you left, you made sure your father wasn't watching you and snuck into his car to look for the extra pistol he had. With the threat of the bad people and the monster you planned on finding, you didn't really feel safe without it. When you found it, you hurried out of his car and got in your truck to go to the cemetery.

*****

Most people were dispersing from the area by the time you got to the cemetery. You spotted Jonathan across the yard. He looked like he was looking for someone. You approached him to him immediately saying, "Oh, there you are."

"Hey, sorry I'm late," you greeted him.

"It's okay its not like its real anyway, just follow me. We need to talk about the plan."

"What plan?"

"To find it," he emphasized 'it' as he whispered to you.

He brought you over by the fence where Nancy had been sitting. You and Jonathan sat down to be at the same height as her. He pulled out a piece of paper from his suit jacket. "Okay, this is where we know for sure it's been, right?

"So, that's," you pointed to an x on the map that Jonathan held.

"Steve's house. And that's the woods where they found Will's bike and that's my house," he replied.

"It's all so close," Nancy stated.

"Yeah, exactly. I mean, it's all within a mile or something. Whatever this thing is, it's... it's not traveling far," Jonathan clarified.

"You want to go out there," you concluded.

"We might not find anything."

"I found something. And if we do see it... then what?" Nancy asked.

"We kill it," he bluntly said.

"This may be a good time to mention since we are going to be a team now. Last night I went to Hawkins Lab."

"Why would you go there?" Jonathan questioned.

"Apparently your mom's been right about a lot of things recently and 'Will's' body wasn't even a body. It was just a stuffed doll. When Hopper found out about it, we went to the lab. Long story short we went to the basement and the room was like something out a sci-fi movie. Next thing I know, I passed out and wake up at my house to find it was bugged by the people who drugged me," you told them as quiet as possible.

"What the hell is happening," Nancy said exactly what you had been wondering.

"Yeah and not only that, but chief doesn't want anyone getting involved in this."

"But that's not what we are going to do right." Jonathan said knowing you very well.

"Right."

Without saying anything, Jonathan stood up from where he sat. He walked away from you and Nancy. The two of got up and followed him. Jonathan went to his dad's car and opened the door. He attempted to open the glove box with a knife and Nancy looked around to make sure no one was watching, "What are you doing?"

"Just give me a second," he responded. Jonathan finally managed to get it open and pulled a gun out from the compartment.

"Are you serious?" Nancy said at the sight of the weapon.

"What? You want to find this thing and take another photo? Yell at it?" he sassed her. Jonathan got out of the car and hid the pistol and ammo.

"This is a terrible idea."

"Yeah, well, it's the best we've got," Nancy rolled her eyes at what he said. "What? You can tell someone, but they're not gonna believe you. You know that."

"Your mom would."

"She's been through enough."

"She deserves to know."

"Yeah, and I'll tell her when this thing is dead."

Nancy didn't really like the idea of waiting to tell Joyce, but she didn't fight anymore as she walked away to get ready for the day ahead. 

"This is going to really dangerous and I really hate to ask you this, but do think you could get another gun from your dad?"

"I'm already two steps ahead of you Jonathan," you let him know you had already gotten it.

*****

After Jonathan changed out of his funeral clothes, you and him went to the woods and set up empty cans as a makeshift shooting range. You tied your hair up with your blue scrunchie to see where you were aiming and the both of you took turns shooting at the targets. You didn't need to much practice since your dad had made sure you knew how to protect yourself, but you still had moments when you hit the side of can instead of the center. Jonathan however wasn't so lucky. 

"Maybe aim a little to the right," you suggested. "Or maybe a lot to the right," you mumbled under your breathe. 

Jonathan must have heard you, "Yeah, I get it. I suck at this and you know why I do."

"I know, all I'm saying is if we find this thing maybe you should let me handle it."

"Haha Y/n, very funny."

"Who knows, Nancy might have better aim than you and then me and her can take care of the monster."

He ignored your last comment and continued to shoot the air. After missing again a voice spoke up from behind you, "You're supposed to hit the cans, right?"

You turned around to see Nancy walking up to you guys. "I keep trying to tell him that, but he insists that he is aiming for the space in between the cans," you replied to the girl.

"Ah," she nodded and set down the stuff she was holding.

Jonathan turned to Nancy and asked her while reloading the revolver, "You ever shot a gun before?"

"Have you met my parents?" she scoffed. 

"Yeah, I haven't shot one since I was ten," Jonathan replied, "My dad took me hunting on my birthday. He made me kill a rabbit."

"A rabbit," she questioned

"Yeah, I guess he thought it would make me into more of a man or something. I cried for a week."

"Jesus," Nancy whispered as she stared off into the distance. 

"What? I'm a fan of Thumper," Jonathan defended himself.

She let out a short laugh and looked at Jonathan, "I meant your dad."

"Yeah, I guess he and my mother loved each other at some point, but I wasn't around for that part." Jonathan said as finished reloading. Nancy reached out for the gun, Jonathan looked a little confused at first, but then he realized she was asking for the weapon and handed it to her. 

"You're just gonna want to aim at your target and shoot," you gave the girl a very brief rundown on how to shoot a gun.

"I don't think my parents ever loved each other," Nancy stated.

"They must've married for some reason," Jonathan replied.

"My mom was young. My dad was older, but he had a cushy job, money, came from a good family. So they bought a nice house at the end of the cul-de-sac and started their nuclear family," she ranted as she aimed the gun at the cans.

"Screw that," you stressed being able to relate by not having the greatest relationship with your parents.

"Yeah, screw that," she closed one eye and pulled the trigger. The sound of the bullet hitting metal was heard indicating Nancy was successful with her shot. The girl took a moment to realize that she had hit her target. When she realized she had a look of confidence to her. "What about you Y/n?" Nancy asked.

"Uhm, the parent thing or if i know how to shoot a gun?" you said confused by what she meant, but you continued anyway feeling obligated to share after everyone else did. "Well, I'm pretty sure every in town knows my story. When my biological mom had me, she decided she didn't want to be a mother and abandoned me and Hopper. A couple years later he got remarried and they were in love. Until shit hit the fan and my step-mom wanted a divorce. I grew up thinking she was my mom, but then Hopper got custody of me because I wasn't biologically related to her." 

"Sorry," Nancy whispered regretting asking.

"About shooting, I think it's like a requirement to be the chief's daughter and know how to shoot a gun," you joked to ease the obvious tension.

*****

After story time, all three of you took turns shooting and when you thought you had enough practice you packed up to leave. You walked through the forest to the mile radius the monster was in when Nancy spoke up, "You never said what I was saying."

"What?" Jonathan responded

"Yesterday. You said I was saying something and that's why you took my picture," Nancy restated her question.

"Oh, uh I don't know." Jonathan stopped uncertain of what he was saying, but carried on anyway, "my guess... I saw this girl, you know, trying to be someone else. But for that moment it was like you were alone, or you thought you were. And, you know, you could just be yourself."

Once again you felt as though you shouldn't be here for this conversation, but as soon as Nancy processed what he said and retaliated, you know it was going to turn into an argument. "That is such bullshit."

"What?"

"I am not trying to be someone else. Just because I'm dating Steve and you don't like him," Nancy fought back.

Jonathan cut her off and took back what he said, "you know what? Forget it. I just thought it was a good picture."

"He's actually a good guy," she continued to argue.

"Okay."

"Yeah sure he is," you mumbled sarcastically.

"Yesterday, with the camera He's not like that at all. He was just being protective," she said still trying to defend her boyfriend.

"Yeah, that's one word for it," you scoffed.

"Oh, and I guess what Jonathan did was okay?"

"No, I... I never said that," he uttered

"He had every right to be pissed," she yelled at Jonathan as he walked away from the group.

"Just like he has the right to bully us everyday," you snapped back.

"And even if it was a one time thing, does that mean I have to like him?" Jonathan stopped and turned back to face Nancy. She gave a quick no in response. "Listen, don't take it so personally, okay? I don't like most people. He's in the vast majority," then he turned around to storm off.

"You know, I was actually starting to think that you guys were okay," Nancy declared.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, I was thinking, 'Jonathan Byers, maybe he's not the pretentious creep and Y/n Hopper maybe she's not the hotheaded girl everyone says they are'."

"Well, I was just starting to think you were okay," Jonathan stood up for the both of you because if he wasn't going to you were. "I was thinking, "Nancy Wheeler, she's not just another suburban girl who thinks she's rebelling by doing exactly what every other suburban girl does. Until that phase passes and they marry some boring one-time jock who now works sales, and they live out a perfectly boring little life at the end of a cul-de-sac. Exactly like their parents, who they thought were so depressing, but now, hey, they get it," he finished his rant by walking off.

You followed him because you honestly didn't want to wait around for Nancy. What Jonathan said to her was really harsh, but she had started the fight and said some pretty insulting things too. Why she was preaching to the people who hated Steve in first place made no sense to you and then to bash on them too, she was practically asking for a fight. That wasn't the only reason you didn't wait for her though. It was like there was some underlying issue between Nancy and Jonathan that was causing them to fight so much. Something told you, you wouldn't like the answer.

*****

Since the argument between the three of you, everyone had stayed silent and the tension was still present. Sometime ago the sun had set and left you in darkness except for the light of your flashlights. You kept walking through the forest with nothing to hear, but the sound of the crickets and crunching leaves under your feet. With it being so quiet, it wasn't hard to miss the sound of a whimper. You shook it off as nothing and continued walking, but Nancy must have heard it too and she stopped in her tracks. 

"What, are you tired?" Jonathan said clearly still upset.

"Shut up," Nancy spoke quickly.

"What?"

"I heard something."

All of you stopped to hear for any noise and after a couple of seconds, you once again heard another whimper. You tried to pinpoint where it was coming from and then you stepped in direction of the noise. As you got closer, the sound got louder. Eventually you could see what was letting out the whines. 

"Oh, God," Nancy exclaimed as you all saw the injured deer. The girl kneeled down to inspect its wounds then she slightly pet it, "it's been hit by a car."

The deer gave out more hushed cries of pain and you couldn't bare to see it like that, "we can't just leave it."

Nancy looked hesitantly at the gun in her hands and Jonathan reached out for it, "I'll do it."

"I thought you said," Nancy didn't want to pressure him.

"I'm not nine anymore," and he took the revolver from her.

You got up from your seated position and Jonathan cocked and aimed the gun at the animal. You debated on closing your eyes and settled on a squint. Just when Jonathan was about to pull the trigger, the deer was suddenly dragged away and you jumped back in freight. 

"What was that," Nancy said once she caught her breath. You searched the area for where the deer had disappeared to. "Where'd it go?"

"I don't know," Jonathan responded.

"Do you see any more blood?" you questioned.

"No"

The three of you separated, with Jonathan walking farther than you or Nancy, to look for some clues of the missing animal. You searched around in the pile of leaves for any sign of a blood trial, but to no avail. You heard Nancy call out for you and Jonathan and you headed back to where she was. You saw her hunched over staring at a tree, but at closer inspection you noticed there was a hole in it with the same fleshy goo that was in the Hawkins lab basement. "Whoa," you said at the sight. 

Nancy turned around to acknowledge your presence then took off her backpack. "What do you think you're doing."

"Our best chances at finding this thing is through here. So what do you think I'm doing," she responded as she begun to crawl through the hole in the tree. 

"That is a stupid plan, Nancy." You tried to stop her from going. She didn't listen as she continued on her trek. "Hey Nancy, are you even listening to me."

Eventually she was gone from your sight and you stood there not knowing what to do. You looked around to see if Jonathan was nearby. There was no sign of him. Although you were starting to dislike her because of your envy you couldn't leave the girl all by herself. You finally decide to go after her into the tree. You pushed the goo away from your face as you army crawled through the tight space. When you reached the end of the tunnel you looked around at your surroundings. You saw a dark gloomy area that looked exactly like the forest except for there were the same tendrils and fleshy substance covering the trees that were at the lab. There were even the ashy particles that caused it difficult to breathe. 

You found Nancy and joined her as she searched the area. Both of your flashlights kept flickering like there was something interfering with them. Nancy hit her's to get it to stop flickering, but a loud snarl snapped her out of her action and you immediately faced the direction to where it had come from. What you saw absolutely chilled you to the bone. It had been some kind of large mysterious creature that was eating the deer that went missing. 

Nancy started backing up slowly and you followed in suit. You stared at the creature with aversion as you wanted to get as far away as possible. But unable to run unless you wanted it to hear you. While walking backwards you felt something on the ground and stepped over it, but it seemed Nancy didn't notice it and stepped right on it. Whatever it was made a loud crunch and had gained the attention the monster. It immediately jerked facing you to where you could see it was just as Joyce said. It was very tall with long arms that ended in sharp claws and the main thing you saw was its lack of a face. Well until it emitted a roar and its face opened to reveal a mouth full of teeth. At the sight in front of you, you and Nancy screamed and ran away in opposite directions as its attention was now focused on the two of you.


	6. The Monster

Rushing through the woods, you ran so far until you couldn't breathe. To take a break you hid behind a tree trying to regain air. You know you had to get out of there, but no longer recognized where you were. Out of nowhere, you heard Jonathan's distant voice calling for you and Nancy. Too frightened that the monster would find you, you stayed quiet. Nancy however yelled after him and you could hear the panic in her voice.

You realized even if you found the exit, you couldn't leave Nancy behind. Swiftly, you moved in the direction from where her voice was coming from, until she was in sight. But the creature had noticed her too and Nancy started running towards you. Quickly you put your back against a tree and when the girl almost run past you, you grabbed her and hid with her behind the tree. 

The anxiety on her face was unmistakable at the thought she had been caught. She calmed a bit when she was aware of her who grabbed her. You raised a finger to your lips to signal her to be quiet. The sound of the growling beast was approaching, you and Nancy held your breathe as it past you both. 

"Nancy! Y/n! Just follow my voice!" you and Nancy turned your heads towards where Jonathan's voice was coming from and saw the exit. 

When the creature was far enough away for you and Nancy to whisper she said, "what do we do?"

Trying to come up with a quick plan, you replied, "I don't know." You realized both of you couldn't make a run away for exit because by the time one of you got through, the monster would've come back. Only one of you could go at a time. After a short couple of seconds you came up with a plan, although it was by far the worst plan you had ever come up with. "Okay... um, you're going to run for the exit and get out of here while I distract it."

"What? No Y/n, that's stupid," Nancy objected.

"We both know, we can't go at the same time. I'll just gets its attention and run from it until you get out. Once you get through the tunnel, I'll get out too." 

She still didn't agree, but you had no other plan. When you worked up the courage, you gave Nancy a countdown from 3. Once you reached 1, you got out of your hiding spot and started shouting at the monster, "Hey you, I'm over here." Then you bolted into a sprint as the large creature made loud thumps running after you and Nancy rushed to the exit. You thought if you could out run it and hide once then maybe you could do it again. You dodged around trees hoping to lose it and finally found a hiding spot. 

When enough time passed by without hearing the creature. You got out from hiding and ran back to the hole in the tree. You let out a sigh of relief at your escape hatch. Suddenly the snarls of the creature where back signaling its presence. You snapped into full speed as you started crawling through the hole. Just when you thought you were out of reach, you felt a sharp shooting pain in your side and let out bloodcurdling screech. The monster had caught you by its claws. You attempted to wiggle out of its grasp with so little room, fortunately leaving the monster in a difficult position to grab you out the tunnel. In front of you, you felt someone's hands trying to get you. 

"Y/n, grab my hand." Jonathan said and you stretched out your arm to take his hand.

Jonathan pulled you out, but the monster still had a hold on your legs. Once you were almost out, Nancy grabbed your other hand and the two of them had yanked you out of the monster's clutches. All of you laid on the forest ground, exhausted from your struggle. You felt your side as there was still pain radiating from it. At the contact of your hand, the pain grew and you removed your hand. The sight of your hand left you faint, there was blood covering it. 

"Hey, are you okay?" Jonathan asked when he saw your face go pale. His attention was brought to your hand and he wore the same look you did. "Shit... we've got to get out of here."

Nancy took notice of what was happening and seemed to be contemplating something. "The blood... its attracted to blood. Barb, she cut her hand and the deer was hit by a car."

"Then we've really got to get Y/n out of here and we can't go to my house since its within the area that the monster attacks in," Jonathan responded.

"We can't go to my house. Hopper would kill me, if that thing doesn't first."

Jonathan and you looked at Nancy hesitantly. "Fine, let's just get out of here."

Hastening your pace, you left the forest and got into Jonathan's car as he speed off to the Wheeler's residence. All the while you held your side as delicately as possible to control the bleeding. "How are you feeling," Jonathan said trying to make sure you hadn't passed out in the back seat.

"I'm doin' just fine," you sassed, "don't you have some sort of pain killers?"

"No, but my dad's been in town so there's bound to be alcohol back there."

"Whatever, works for me," you searched the floor of the car for it. Once you found the bottle you opened it and took a swig. 

"That's not really what meant. I thought you could at least use the alcohol to clean your wound," he stated.

"I liked my idea better," you laid back for the rest of drive, every once in a while taking another drink from the container.

*****

Upon arriving at the Wheeler's house, Nancy and Jonathan talked to each other to decide what was going to happen. You weren't included in said conversation since you were starting to drift off from blood loss and being a little tipsy. Nancy had told Jonathan that you and her would go in through the front door and he could go through her window when she opened it.

The girl helped you out of the car and let you lean on her. She unlocked the door and entered the house. "Nancy, is that you?" you heard Mrs.Wheeler say.

Said woman appeared at the front door to see who was there. "Mom, Y/n's going to sleepover tonight."

"Oh, I didn't know you girls were friends."

"Um, yeah after Will's funeral we started talking," her mother seemed to notice how you were dozing off. "Well I think Y/n should get to bed."

You were trying to play it off as if you were more drunk than you were because it was better than her mom finding out you were injured.

"Are you girls okay?"

"Yeah, she... she just drank a little. You know after all that happened today and I didn't feel right having her drive home so I thought she could stay in our guest bed." Nancy continued with your lie. Her mom somewhat understood and didn't want to question you for fear of being insensitive.

"Okay, well then you guys head to bed."

Nancy mumbled a goodnight to her mother as the both you headed up the stairs. She showed you to the guest room then offered you to take a shower to clean your wound. You took the offer and she sent you off to the bathroom with a pair pajamas. After locking the door, you took off your shirt and looked in the mirror to see the deep gash in your side. Then you turned the water on and waited for it to warm while you shed the rest of your clothes. You stepped into the shower and winced at the water running down your side. You watched at your feet as the water turned red from your blood. Once you get rid the dirt from your body, you turned off the water and dried off your body. When you had put on the pajamas, you headed back to the room you were staying in for the night. 

Shortly after you closed the door there was a knock at it. You responded by telling the person to come in. It had been Jonathan with a first aid kit. Finally you were going to receive some kind of medical attention. 

"Do you want some help?"

"I guess, but I have to warn you it doesn't look pretty," you replied.

You sat on the bed as Jonathan took out some gauze. You lifted your shirt enough for him to see your wound.

"Jesus," he commented.

"Hey, I warned you."

He moved towards the bed and sat down next to you to place the first bandage on you. You flinched at how clumsy he put it on. "Could you be a little gentler?"

"Sorry," he took the gauze wrap and tried to be more careful that time. 

As he wrapped it around, you spoke up, "You know I honestly didn't think I was going to make it out of there."

He took his eyes off the bandage to look at your face. "Y/n, don't say that."

"What, I did. And Nancy... I don't know. I just had to make sure she got out of there."

"Well now your both safe. So you don't need to think about that anymore."

"You didn't see it Jonathan. It... its still out there," you stuttered as tears started to gather at the corner of your eyes.

"And we're going to take care of it."

"I'm not so sure we can."

"We can't just let it live," he finished wrapping the gauze around your torso and got up from the bed. He spoke gently, not wanting to fight anymore, "I'm going to check on Nancy. You just get some sleep. Okay, Y/n."

"Okay, goodnight." already tired of your short argument. He said goodnight back and closed the door behind him. 

*****

You tried so hard to fall asleep, but sandman did not greet you that night. Instead imagines of the monster did and left you in a state of fear. By morning, you must've dozed off at some point because the sound of knocking had woken you from your slumber. Mrs.Wheeler's voice followed the knocking, "Y/n, I wanted to let you know I have breakfast made downstairs for when you get ready."

You replied to the woman's kindness, "Oh okay, Thank you Mrs.Wheeler. I will be down there in a little bit." 

Once again you went to the bathroom to freshen up for the day and had found your clothes were washed and dried. You put on your cream plaid print sweater that now had a slight tear in the side and your blues jeans that had grass stains and holes in the knees from being dragged on the floor. You finished by putting on your brown leather jacket and went downstairs, but when you were passing by the basement door you heard some fighting. Curious what was happening you went down to see what was up. When you reached the bottom of the stairs you could tell the conversation was between Mike and Dustin. Before you opened the door you heard Dustin say "We're going to get Lucas and then we're going to find Eleven."

You decided to open the door at that, "What do you mean find Eleven as if you have lost her?"

The boys turned to you with eyes widening in fear upon seeing you're face grow with agitation. "Um Y/n, we didn't mean that. We're just playing a game with her. You know hide and seek," Mike lied.

"Don't you think you boys are a little old to play hide and seek." You entered the room and could now see the destroyed fort that the little girl had been occupying. "And why is El's fort knocked down."

"Uh that's because," he stuttered.

"Micheal Wheeler, I swear to god if one more lie comes out of mouth, I'm going to tell your mother some things you really don't want her to know."

Dustin blurted out, "Mike yelled at her and she ran away."

"Dustin!"

"And you just let her go," you started to chew out the young boy.

"One moment she was there and the next she was gone. What was I supposed to do?"

"Keep an eye her like I told you too. I trusted her with you." You finished your quarrel by walking over to the stairs to leave.

"Where are you going?"

"I am going to find that girl before she gets herself into trouble and you are going to stay here." You left before Mike could get another word in.

You went back to Nancy's room to let her know that you had to go. Out of respect you knocked on her door and said, "hey it's me." 

Rustling could be heard on the other side of the door and then it was opened. Nancy had unlocked the door for you and on her bed there were several books, but so was Jonathan. At the sight of him your heart pang from jealously and hurt. You thought he would've gone home since he didn't take the guest bed with you. What was he even doing in her bed. "Whoa, what's going on in here?" you played it off as if you were talking about the books.

"I've been up all night researching how we can predict the monster's movements." Nancy answered your question. "I was thinking we could lure it out with blood since it is attracted to it. Then we set up a trap so we can stand chance against it."

You thought about it for second. You didn't want to go up against the creature again, but you knew you couldn't give up and let it take other people. "It's not a bad idea. It could work." 

"Ok, me and Jonathan were talking about getting supplies right now."

"Yeah about that, something really urgent came up and I've got to take care of it. It shouldn't take me that long and I will meet up with you guys again." You really regretted having to leave Jonathan with Nancy after the state you found him in.

"That's fine just meet up at my house." Jonathan told you.

The three of you left the house through Nancy's bedroom window because you didn't have time to run into Mrs.Wheeler.

*****

You honestly didn't know where to start looking for Eleven. By now she could be anywhere. First, you picked up your truck and started driving out of town, looking for an type of commotion. After leaving town you planed to check around the quarry and the surrounding area. However, as you were driving downtown, you passed the supermarket and saw a girl in a pink dress carrying 4 boxes of Eggos out of the store. When she had exited, the automatic glass door slammed shut and shattered behind her. You recognized the dress as Eleven's and pulled over to the side of street. What you couldn't believe though was how the door broke like that, it was unnatural. You remembered how Dustin said she had powers and were starting to believe. 

Once you had driven close enough to the girl you opened the passenger window and yelled her name. She looked at you, but wasn't sure if she should listen to you.

"El, it's me Y/n. I found you in the woods with Mike, Dustin, and Lucas. Can you please get in the car. I'm just trying to help you."

She had been fighting a battle in mind trying to decide if she should trust you or not. Eventually, she gave in and got in the truck and you hurried to drive away from crime scene she had made. You drove back in the direction of the Wheeler's, but the girl seemed to know where you were going.

"No, not Mike," she said quietly.

"I know you guys fought, but he was really worried about you," you admitted to her.

"Worried?"

She didn't understand what you meant and you tried to explain, "he was scared you were in danger."

"But he was mad at me."

"Well, sometimes boys don't say what they really mean. Trust me, this morning he was about ready to send a whole search party out for you." You attempted a joke with her, but she didn't seem to understand.

She stayed quiet, but she still had something she wanted to say, "... I hurt Lucas."

You didn't know what to say to that. You searched your brain for anything to comfort her. "Well sometimes we hurt people and we have to apologize. And they might not accept it, but you have to take responsibility for your actions." It was solid advice and you thought you should probably listen to it yourself.

"Apologize," she said to herself as she thought about what you said.

"Hey, I hate to take you back to Mike's, but I don't have anywhere else you can stay right now." She didn't responded as you continued to drive back in town.

The little movie theater had gained your attention. Not because it had a movie you were interested in. But because of the red spray paint that read 'Staring Nancy The Slut Wheeler'. You pulled over and put your car in park. You turned to Eleven, leaving no room for debate you ordered, "I'll be right back. You just stay here, okay."

You got out of the vehicle and made your way over to the sign. As you got closer you saw Nancy and Jonathan approaching the cinema. You stood there with them and people stared at Nancy as they walked past. You felt bad for the girl as you knew what that was like. In the distant there was a sound of a spray can being shook. The girl immediately took off at the sound of it and Jonathan called after her. The both of you ran after the girl.

When you reached the alleyway Nancy went down, a slap echoed throughout it. The receiver of said slap was none other than Steve Harrington and the rest of his entourage was there too. The sight of them made your blood boil in anger remembering what happened early that week. It didn't help that you were already pissed from learning Mike lost Eleven and the jealousy you were experiencing.

"What is wrong with you?"

"What's wrong with me? What's wrong with you? I was worried about you. I can't believe that I was actually worried about you," Steve confessed.

You and Jonathan walked down the alley, not quite wanting to get involved. 

"What are you talking about?"

"I wouldn't lie if I were you. You don't want to be known as the lying slut now, do you?" Carol sneered.

"Speak of the devil," Tommy said when he noticed Jonathan.

"Hi," Jonathan muttered and everyone looked at the both of you.

"You came by last night?" Nancy turned back to Steve. The way she said that made you feel like something had happened between the two of them. It couldn't be true, Jonathan wouldn't do that, right?

"Ding! Ding! Ding! Does she get a prize?" Carol kept butting into a fight that wasn't even her's.

"Look, I don't know what you think you saw, but it wasn't like that," Nancy defended herself.

"What, you just let him into your room to... study?" Steve questioned her.

"Or for another pervy photo session?" Tommy laughed.

"We were just," Nancy was cut off.

"You were just what? Finish that sentence. Finish the sentence." Nancy couldn't give an explanation and Steve scoffed, "Go to hell, Nancy."

You wished you could help the girl, but unlike Steve's two idiot friends, you actually knew your place in this fight. Plus, you were starting to question if you actually wanted to put your feelings aside and help her.

"Come on, Nancy, let's just leave," Jonathan reached out for her and you all started walking away.

"You know what, Byers? I'm actually kind of impressed," Steve shoved Jonathan. "I always took you for a queer, but I guess you're just a little screw-up like your father."

"Fuck off, Harrington," you seethed without turning around.

He didn't listen to you and continued to harass Jonathan, "Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, that house is full of screw-ups. You know, I guess I shouldn't really be surprised. A bunch of screw-ups in your family. Even your only friend is a screw up."

Nancy turned to face both you and Jonathan pleading with you to be the better person. Too bad your anger was getting the best of you when you curled your hands into fists.

Steve noticed Jonathan listening to Nancy and he turned his badgering to you. "I mean everyone knows that she's either going to end up like her father or she's going to skip town just like her mother. And whenever she talks to someone she gets a little snappy at just the mention of sar-" 

Before he could finish Sara's name, you spun on your heels and decked the teenager in the face. Steve caught himself on some railing and got back up. Suddenly you were being tackled and pushed onto the ground. You could hear Nancy begging Steve to stop as you pushed him off you and tried to get a hold him. He kneed you right in your wound and you crumpled to the ground, but that didn't stop you. You pushed yourself off the ground and threw another punch at Steve's face.

Tommy got in the way and Jonathan thought he was going to join the fight so he pushed him away resulting in the two of them fighting. You and Steve took a fighting stance and you took the first swing, but he dodged under it and his fist connected with your jaw. You flinched back, but recovered quickly landing two hits on him and he fell to the ground. You got down and straddled him to ensure he wouldn't push you away.

Sirens sounded in the distant and were nearing, but you paid no mind to them. Punch after punch, nothing stopped you not even the searing pain in your side. It wasn't until someone was pulling you away from the boy with all their might, that you let up even a little. Even then you still pushed them away until you were dragged onto your feet. Whoever it was shoved you onto a car and put you in handcuffs. Your face was turned in one direction and saw Jonathan being put in handcuffs too. 

Realizing you were being detained, you suddenly remembered Eleven sitting in your truck. You recognized Powell's voice and attempted pleading with him, "Hey you can't arrest me. I'm babysitting a little girl, she's in my truck."

"Jesus, you're one hell of a babysitter Y/n," Powell mocked you.

"Just please... I can't leave her."

"Well, you should've thought about that before you got in a fight and assaulted an officer." Powell lifted you from the hood and pushed you into the backseat of the cop car.

Jonathan was placed next to you in the vehicle as the two cops tried to catch up with Steve and Tommy.

With a scowl on your face you told Jonathan, "I told you if I saw him again I would punch him."

"And I said I wouldn't blame you."

*****

At the police station, you were separated from Jonathan and locked in your dad's office. Powell and Callahan came to a decision of having Hopper deal with you. Which was honestly worse than any punishment the law stated for engaging in a fight. When you were put in the room you asked, "Can you at least take off the cuffs?"

They complied since they locked the door behind them. You sat in silence for awhile. To pass the time you searched the office that you knew too well. Nothing new stuck out to you as you walked around so you took your seat again.

Eventually, Powell had returned, "We called your dad he should be on his way."

"Did you guys find the girl," you inquired.

"We searched your truck, but there was no one there." You weren't surprised, the girl was flighty and at the sound of police sirens she probably fled. Then you were left again in the empty room. Without nothing to do, the pain in your side was starting to get unbearable. Now that you had calmed, you realized you shouldn't have even thrown that first punch. You checked your bandages to see they were starting to bleed through. 

Fortunately, the door opened and Nancy walked in, "Hey, I brought you some ice."

"Do you think you could grab me some bandages?" She saw where the gauze was now reddening.

"Oh, yeah I'll be right back." A couple seconds later the girl returned.

"Thank you." You said as she set down the ice and bandages. 

She offered to help you change them, but you told her you could handle it. Awkwardly, she stood there not knowing whether she should leave or not. "I'm sorry that you got involved in my fight."

"Its... its fine. It was only a matter of time before that happened. I'm sorry your boyfriend, or whatever he is now, is an asshole."

Nancy you didn't argue with you this time. A few more awkward silents seconds later she said, "Don't forgot to ice your lip?" Then she left the room. You were confused what she meant and reached to feel your mouth. Your top lip had been busted from when you were punched on the jaw. With the pain in your side you hadn't even noticed. You finished wrapping your wound and iced your face as you sat waiting for your dad.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed this chapter. It is probably one of my favorite in the first season because Steve got what he deserved and finally realizes Tommy and Carol are shitty people. I can't wait to put out future chapters and I hope you can't either.


	7. The Bathtub

The door swung open and hit the wall. The booming sound broke you out of your thoughts and you jumped from your slouched position, "What the hell do you think your doing getting into fights."

You opened your mouth to respond to your father, but he immediately cut you off. "You know what, I don't want to hear it. I told you stay out of trouble and Callahan tells me you got in a fight and assaulted him."

You cowered in your chair as he reprimanded you. "And what are you doing with all this?" He dropped a box onto his desk making a loud thud. "We found this in the trunk of Jonathan's car."

One look into the box, you knew it had been all the weapons they planned to use on the monster. Silence was your response to the Chief, "Do you think I'm stupid Y/n? Do you not think I don't know what you're doing?"

"I can protect myself," you mumbled.

"What was that? Because I don't think you can. You can't even stay out of trouble and got yourself beat up," your dad scolded.

Tired of not being believed in, you fought back, "Really, you know the one thing. The one goddamn thing you taught me how to do is protect myself. I know my limits and what I can't take on, but if no one does this who is going to stop that thing. And trust me I didn't get the worse of that fight."

"You still didn't listen to a word I said."

"If you think I'm going to apologize for what happened, I'm not. While you were looking for Will, someone needed to stop that thing from taking other people. And I am definitely not apologizing for finally standing up to the person who has been bullying me for the past 2 years."

Hopper worn out from feuding with you, fell into his chair as he knew this was a battle he could not win. He took off his hat and ran his hands down his face. He let out an exaggerated sigh, "Did you at least win the fight?"

You took a moment and lifted your head from your lap, "he ran for the hills."

For split second Hopper wore look of pride, but it quickly faded. Suddenly he remembered Callahan saying you were looking for a girl, "Why does Callahan say you were babysitting some girl, you're not a babysitter."

"Oh yeah, about that-"

"I want an apology!" you were cut off by a very angry woman yelling down the hall.

Your dad rose from his seat and left the room. You followed and saw Joyce and Jonathan right outside the office. Hopper looked to the three of and told you to stay there. You complied because from where you stood, you could still hear the dispute happening in the station.

"What the hell is going on here?" your dad's voice shouted.

"These men are humiliating my son." 

"No, no, no. Okay, that's not true." Callahan panicked.

"There was some kind of fight, Chief," Powell answered.

"A psychotic child broke his arm!" the woman screeched.

"A little girl, Chief. A little one." Callahan added.

"That tone! Do you hear that tone?"

"Honestly, I'm just trying to state a fact."

Your dad interrupted the woman and Callahan, "I don't have time for this. Will you please take a statement?"

"So what'd this girl look like?" Powell asked.

"She had no hair and she was bleeding from her nose. Like a freak," a boy's voice said. The part about her hair had caught your attention as you moved down the hall to hear better. 

"What'd you just say?" your dad questioned.

"I said she's a freak!"

"No, her hair. What'd you say about her hair?" 

"Her head's shaved. She doesn't even look like a girl. And...."

"And what?"

"Tell the man, Troy." You could now see the scene and saw the woman nudge her son to get him to tell the full story. 

"She can do things," the boy spat out.

"What kind of things?" your father continued his interrogation.

"Like make you fly. And piss yourself." You weren't aware of all the things Eleven could do, but what other girl in town had powers and a shaved head.

"What? Was she alone?"

"She always hangs out with those losers." 

"'Losers'? What losers?" your dad asked.

"Mike Wheeler, Lucas Sinclair, and Dustin Henderson." This confirmed your line of thoughts and at least you knew Eleven had found the boys.

Your father's questions stopped and he went back down the hall. You stopped him by saying, "That girl that I was 'babysitting'," you put babysitter in quotation marks with your fingers, "um yeah, that's that girl." You pointed down the hall to the boy who just mentioned Eleven.

He looked at you with a look of shock, "And you didn't tell me this."

Puzzled as to why he worded it like, you cast your confusion on him, "Why do you say that as if you know who she is?"

"I'll tell you that later. Right now we need to find her before someone else does." He left you there confused as he went to grab the rest of your group.

*****

Your dad drove the five of you over to the Wheelers'. He decided now was the time to fill you in on how he knew Eleven. "Look I've been doing research and found they've been doing testing at Hawkins Lab, The MK Ultra Project. One woman who participated said her daughter was taken from her and was being experimented on. She claimed her child had psychic abilities. When we went to the Labs we found that child's room. At first I thought they took Will, but I remembered Earl said Benny found a girl with a shaved head." He finished his story of how he came about his knowledge of El. "That girl is going to attract a lot of dangerous people and that's why we have to find her and those boys.

He put the car in park at the top of a hill facing the Wheeler house and got out with a pair of binoculars. You reached for the door handle and followed him out of the car. There were about three black cars in their driveway and several white vans in the street. Men in suits were exiting the house carrying many boxes. 

"I have to go home," Nancy said at the sight of it.

"No, you can't," was your dad's response.

"My mom... my dad are there."

"They're gonna be okay." The girl got fed up and was about to leave, but your dad grabbed her arm before she could get too far. "Hey! Listen to me. Listen to me. The last thing in the world that we need is them knowing you're mixed up in all this."

"Mike is over there-"

"They haven't found him. Not yet, at least." He said and pointed in distance where a helicopter was.

"For Mike?" she was confused as to why they were going to all lengths to find her brother.

Your dad got Nancy back in the car and you sat next to her. Then Hopper closed the door behind you and took the driver's seat turning back to look at the girl. "Look, we need to find them before they do. Do you have any idea where he might have gone?"

"No, I don't."

"I need you to think."

"I don't know. We haven't talked a lot. I mean, lately..." she admitted.

"Is there any place that your parents don't know about that he might go?" Joyce chimed in.

You were wracking your brain trying to come up with anywhere they could have, when you remembered the walkie talkies. "Me and Jonathan might."

The boy looked to you at the mention of his name and realized what you were talking about.

"What?" your dad surprised you knew where they were.

"I don't know where he is, but I think I know how to ask him."

"They all have walkie talkies, including Will." Jonathan spoke up.

Not needing to hear anymore, Hopper started the engine and sped off to the Byers'. Upon parking in the front lawn, everyone rushed out the car and into the house to find the radio. When you entered you noticed how there were added Christmas lights to the living room, but you ignored it to seek the thing you all were trying to find. You checked Will's closet and heard Joyce's muffled voice come out from under his bed, "I got it."

Nancy and your dad joined you in Will's room. Joyce handed Nancy the walkie talkie in order to get in contact with her brother. She took it hesitantly and pushed the button on the side, "Mike, are you there? Mike, it's me, Nancy. Mike, are you there? Mike, we need you to answer. This is an emergency, Mike. Do you copy? Mike do you copy? We need to know that you're there Mike."

Chief got tired of no one answering and took the talkie from her. "Listen, kid, this is the chief. If you're there, pick up. We know you're in trouble and we know about the girl. We can protect you, we can help you, but you gotta pick up. Are you there? Do you copy? Over." Then he set the walkie talkie down.

You picked up the radio not wanting to give up, "Mike, it's Y/n. I told the chief about Eleven. Please answer, we are trying to help."

"Anybody got any other ideas?" your dad asked.

A couple beats of silence and then the walkie talkie spoke up, "Yeah, I copy. It's Mike, I'm here... we're here.

You handed your father the radio. He pushed the button to respond, "Okay, you need to tell me where you are?"

It seemed that Mike was reluctant to give up his location but he gave in, "We're at the old junkyard."

"Stay where you are, I will be right there."

You wanted to go with him to make sure they were alright. If you went, there wouldn't be enough room in the car and it would look suspicious. You settled on staying at the Byers' house and it seemed Nancy had too.

*****

It was dark outside by the time you saw headlights shine in the living room. You had been sitting around, nervously anticipating the return of your dad. When you recognized his car, you all stood up from the couch and raced out the door. Nancy called out to her brother and pulled him into a hug. "I was so worried about you."

"Yeah, uh... me, too." Mike said.

Nancy took notice of the girl with them and so had you. "Is that my dress?"

No one responded and the group of people walked back inside. You got Eleven's attention and said, "I'm sorry I disappeared on you."

She didn't respond, but she didn't seem upset. Eleven took note of your now injured face, "... you're hurt."

It took you a moment register what she meant. "Oh this," pointing to your face,"this is nothing. I'm just glad you're okay." You gave the girl a smile and you would've missed it if you blinked, but she smiled back.

Once inside the house, Mike explained what had been happening. He drew on a piece of paper, what he said was a tightrope with an acrobat and a flea. He explained that the tightrope was our dimension and the acrobat could only travel forward and backwards, but the flea could travel the same as the acrobat, along the rope, and underneath.

"Okay, so, in this example, we're the acrobat. Will and Barbara, and that monster, they're this flea. And this is the Upside Down, where Will is hiding. Mr. Clarke said the only way to get there is through a rip of time and space."

"A gate" 

"That we tracked to Hawkins Lab."

"With our compasses," Dustin and Lucas switched off.

When no one spoke up, Dustin clarified, "okay, so the gate has a really strong electromagnetic field, and that can change the directions of a compass needle."

"Is this gate underground?" your dad asked, making you think of the hole in the wall at Hawkins Lab.

"Yes," El answered.

"Near a large water tank?" you added.

"Yes."

"How did you know all at?" Dustin stuttered.

"They've seen it," Mike concurred.

"Is there any way that you could... that you could reach Will? That you could talk to him in this..." Joyce looked to Eleven.

"The Upside Down," the girl finished her sentence and nodded her head.

"And my friend Barbara? Can you find her, too?"

Eleven gave Nancy a nod too and in a quiet voice said she needed it to be quiet except for a background noise. The group moved to gather around the kitchen table. Mike turned on his walkie talkie to an empty channel and set it down. Everyone was silent as the girl closed her eyes and concentrated. The lights flickered and El opened her eyes, "I'm sorry."

Fearing the worst, Joyce's voice shook, "What? What's wrong? What happened?"

El didn't want to hurt anyone and was on the verge of tears, "I can't find them."

Jonathan took his hand away from his mother's and turned to leave, but ultimately decided on staying. You patted Eleven on the shoulder to let her know she tried her best even though you were losing hope. El got up from her seat to go to the bathroom before she broke down in front of everyone. You asked as soon as El was gone from the room, "Is she okay?"

The boys attempted to answer your question, "Whenever she uses her powers, she gets weak."

"The more energy she uses, the more tired she gets."

"Like, she flipped the van earlier." Your eyes were probably bugling out of their sockets at Lucas' statement. That little girl was capable of flipping a van with her mind. 

"It was awesome," Dustin remarked as if now was the time to geek out.

"But she's drained," Mike said showing concern for El.

"Like a bad battery."

"Well, how do we make her better?" Joyce stuttered as she asked. 

"We don't. We just have to wait and try again." Mike clarified.

"Well, how long?" Nancy was getting frustrated at having wait to find out if her best friend was safe or not.

"I don't know." Mike shrugged

"The bath." The little girl left the bathroom and entered the kitchen.

"What?"

"I can find them. In the bath."

Your dad stood up from the counter he had been leaning on. "Like the tank at Hawkins Lab."

The girl nodded and said, "Yeah, but it has to be dark and I can't hear anything."

"It's almost like they take away all your senses," you noted.

You could physically see the light bulb pop in Dustin's brain when he shouted, "A sensory deprivation tank." At the thought the boys shouted over each other on how to make one until Mike yelled back, "Mr.Clarke."

Dustin ran to the phone and immediately dialed a number. How he remembered his teacher's number was beyond you.

"Mr.Clarke? It's Dustin.- Yeah, yeah. I just, I... I have a science question.- Do you know anything about sensory deprivation tanks? Specifically how to build one?- Fun. -You always say we should never stop being curious. To always open any curiosity door we find. Why are you keeping this curiosity door locked?" For a while it seemed Dustin wasn't convincing his teacher, but then Dustin turned back to everyone moving the phone from his face and whispered, "pen and paper." 

You and Joyce rushed to find what he asked for. Joyce had got some paper and you only found a pencil. Dustin took the items and sat down scribbling down what was being told to him over the phone. "Uh-huh. How much?- Uh-huh. Yep, all right. Yeah, we'll be careful.- Definitely. All right, Mr. Clarke. Yeah, I'll see you on Monday. I'll see you on Monday, Mr. Clarke. Bye." The boy hang up and set the phone down looking at Joyce "Do you still have that kiddie pool we bobbed for apples in?"

Joyce took a moment to respond, "I think so." She looked to Jonathan and both responded, "Yeah."

"Good. Then we just need salt. Lots of it," Dustin told everyone.

"How much is 'lots'?" Hopper wanted a clarification on lots.

"1,500 pounds."

"Well, where are we gonna get that much salt?" Nancy questioned.

"I think I might know a place. C'mon let's go." Your dad answered.

*****

You took two separate cars with your dad leading the way. Once arriving at Hawkins Middle School, Hopper split everyone in groups according to what Dustin had written down. Him and Jonathan went to get the salt. Dustin and Lucas were setting up the kiddie pool in the gym. Nancy and Mike got hoses to fill the pool, and you and Joyce watched Eleven to help calm her and make goggles for her that would block out all light.

As Joyce searched for the supplies in the class rooms cabinets, you sat with Eleven. "I know it might not mean much from me, but what your doing for everyone is very selfless. You may not trust me yet, but if there's anyone you can trust it's Joyce. She has always been there for me when my mom and dad weren't. In a way she was like my mom growing up."

"I trust you," Eleven reassured you. You felt honored that she said that to you even when you weren't expecting a response.

Joyce joined you sitting at the desks, putting the final touches on the goggles covered in duct tape. She lifted them to the light to see if any shown through. "This will keep it dark for you. Just like in your bathtub." She sat them down in her lap and sighed, "You're a very brave girl. You know that, don't you? Everything you're doing for my boy... for Will... for my family." Joyce took a pause because she was getting emotional. "Thank you."

Joyce took El's hands in hers. "Listen, me and Y/n are gonna be there with you the whole time. And if it ever gets too scary in that place, you just let me know, okay?"

"Yes," El agreed.

Joyce gave the girl a motherly look, "Ready?"

El stood straight to take a breath of air, "Ready."

You left the classroom to meet everyone in the gym and the pool had already been set up with water and salt. Eleven took off her socks and handed Mike his watch so it wouldn't get destroyed by the pool. Joyce gave her the goggles she made and she put them on. Your dad and Joyce helped her into the pool as you sat in between Jonathan and Mike. You watched as Eleven lowered herself into pool so she could lay back. The lights in the gym flickered and the electricity crackled. Shortly after, the lights shut off and you waited as Eleven tried to find Will and Barbara.

"Barbara," Eleven's quiet voice filled the silent room. Nancy sprang up at her best friend's name wanting to know more information. El's breathing quickened and the lights flashed on and off.

"What's going on?" you asked concerned for the girl.

"I don't know." Mike responded.

"Is Barb okay? Is she okay?" Nancy said to Eleven.

"Gone. Gone. Gone." Eleven voice cracked as if she were about to cry. You were shocked to hear what the girl had said and felt terrible guilt at the news of Barb. You couldn't help to think you could have done something that night when you saw her go missing.

Eleven started shouting gone in fear and Joyce reached out to calm her, "It's okay. It's okay. It's okay, we're right here. We're right here, honey." 

To your surprise even your dad grabbed her hand to comfort Eleven. She kept gasping and Joyce continued to soothe her, "It's okay. I got you. Don't be afraid. I'm right here with you. It's okay, you're safe."

Eleven's breath eventually calmed and she said, "Castle Byers." You gulped at now it was time to hear if Will was alive or if he had suffered the same fate as Barbara. "Will," Joyce gasped at what she heard. You and Jonathan froze in fear for what Eleven's next words would be. But she didn't say anything and considering she freaked out with Barb, that could only mean one thing right? Will had to be alive.

Joyce came to the same conclusion and told Eleven, "You tell him... tell him I'm coming. Mom is coming."

Then on the walkie talkie behind you, Will's voice spoke out, "hurry."

Joyce continued, "Okay. Listen, you tell him to... to stay where he is. We're coming. We're coming, okay? We're coming, honey."

Suddenly, Eleven sprung from the pool and took off the goggles. She was panting and Joyce grabbed her as El held on for dear life. "It's okay, I got you, honey. You did so good." El started crying and you felt devastated at the sight. You were glad Joyce was there she had always been so loving and knew what to do.

Joyce got Eleven out of the pool and you stood to grab her towel off the tray with the radio. You wrapped the towel around the little girl and Mike and the boys sat with her on the bleachers. Your dad gathered you, Joyce, and Jonathan, "So this fort. Where is it?"

"Uh, it's in the woods behind our house," the woman stuttered.

"Yeah, he used to go there to hide." Jonathan added.

Your dad put on his jacket and started walking off. He couldn't go by himself you thought and went after him outside.

"Hey, get back inside," he said at the sight of the three of you.

"What are you insane?" Joyce argued. "No, I'm-"

"Look, if something happens to me, I don't make it back," you weren't very happy to hear your dad was going to risk his life and didn't sound like he cared. And even though he checked out on you for a while, he was your dad and all you had left. 

"Yeah, but then I'll go. You stay with your daughter. Are you kidding me? He's my son, Hop. My son. I'm going!" Joyce yelled at him and then turned to talk to Jonathan.

However, you weren't done arguing with your father yet. "So you what, you were just gonna take off without saying goodbye. When you knew there was a chance you weren't coming back."

"Y/n, I-"

"No, did you even think about me? You're all the family I have left and if you..." You were on the verge of tears, but stopped yourself.

"I'm sorry, but it's my job."

"I know, but you didn't have to storm out and push me away again. Not again."

He hung his head in shame as you continued your tirade, "I know there is no chance in hell you'll let me go with you. So, please just give a shit about yourself for once and don't die."

"Okay," he said and turned to get in his car. "Joyce! Joyce, come on!" 

She said goodbye and you and Jonathan stood there to watch as your parents left to find Will. You grabbed Jonathan hand for comfort as the car backed up and drove away. You both stayed there a couple seconds longer, scared that they wouldn't return and you would be left all alone.

"They'll be okay," you said with so much uncertainty, you didn't even convince yourself.

When minutes passed, Jonathan let go of your hand to go back inside. You waited a little longer and followed him. Nancy had been sitting in the hall with her knees in her arms. You both took a sit next to her and sat in silence.

"We have to go back to the station." Nancy was the first to speak up.

"What?" You and Jonathan both said.

"Your mom and Hopper are just walking in there like bait." Mentally, you couldn't help but to thank Nancy for reminding you what you already knew. "That thing is still in there. And we can't just sit here and let it get them, too. We can't."

"You still wanna try it out?" Jonathan said referring to the plan they made earlier that morning.

"I wanna finish what we started. I want to kill it." Nancy stated.

"I think I know a way we can get back into Hop's office," you solemnly said as you took out the keys from your pocket that you had stolen from your dad's jacket.

"Y/n, how did you get those?" Jonathan asked surprised.

"I thought you guys would want to carry out the plan and when Hopper wasn't paying attention I took them. Besides I'm not just going to let them go to... to that place and get killed. I'm going to put up a fight."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did you guys see the season 4 teaser that came out yesterday? I think we all aren't surprised, but I can't believe they're already revealing a huge plot point so soon.


	8. The Upside Down

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy the last and longest chapter in this season.

The kids were left behind at the middle school. You had fought Nancy and Jonathan long and hard on why they shouldn't be left unsupervised. They had convinced you that it would be best the kids were far away from the Byers' house to be kept out of harms way. Jonathan and Nancy even claimed that they would be safer at the school by themselves. That's what led you to the police station to pick up the items your father confiscated from Jonathan's trunk. At this time of night you expected work to be slowed down at the station, but Flo was still in the reception office. 

"Shit, okay you take the keys and I'll meet you back at the car," you informed the two. You strolled into the station and were going to go straight pass Flo's desk knowing you would get stopped even before you could.

"Y/n, what are you doing here so late?" She asked.

"Oh, I didn't know you were still here, Flo. You know I just forgot my backpack here and I wanted to get some work done tonight." You made up a lie and to get her attention away from the front entrance you pretended to notice a new picture in her office. "Is that a new photo, Flo? Are those your kids? They have lovely families." You pointed to her photos behind her to which she turned to look at what you were talking about. Jonathan and Nancy snuck past you once Flo had turned her back.

The woman confused at the pictures you had seen a thousand times had sensed your bizarre behavior, "Y/n are you feeling alright?"

"Yeah, I'm just a little stressed with all that school work I have to do." You looked down the hall to see if they had grabbed the stuff and when you saw them you said, "Oh you know what I just forgot I don't have keys to the office and Chief must've locked the door like always."

"I can get the door for ya, sweetheart. Wait a second while I try to find them."

Flo started rummaging through items in her office to find the keys. As she did you signaled for Nancy and Jonathan to go out the doors. Once they exited the station you told Flo, "That's okay, Flo. I'll come back tomorrow to grab it."

"You sure? You came all this way to get." 

"Yeah, I don't want to bother you too much and I'm sure you want to get home. Goodnight, Flo." You said leaving the station not giving her a second chance to speak. You hopped in the car and Jonathan sped down the street.

*****

Jonathan parked the car and you all jumped out. He opened the trunk to reveal the weapons needed to fight the monster. To your amusement, Nancy pulled out a fire extinguisher and a gas tank. "Whoa, what's that for?" you said clearly not up to date with the plan. You were also wondering how you got to the point in your life where a fire extinguisher was more shocking than a bear trap.

"You'll see," the girl responded.

You didn't question any longer and grabbed some items and walked into the Byers' living room. You set the stuff you had in hands down and got to work on the trap. Since you weren't there when the two made the plan, you needed some assistance. But once they informed you what they had planned you worked effortlessly to get the job done before the monster could attack Joyce or Hopper. 

Using Joyce's knowledge about the lights, all three of you started on putting on all the bulbs back into place so you'd some warning for when the monster showed up. You screwed in each bulb not particular paying attention to the pattern. All you cared about was speed. You finished your last bulb at the same time as everyone else and Jonathan took the bear trap from the box. You grabbed the metal stakes and hammer. He placed bear trap in the middle of the hall and you gave him what you had in your hands. Jonathan picked up the metal stake and bolted the steel trap to the hallway floor. When he had it secured in place he nodded at you and Nancy.

Then three of you split the rest of duties. Nancy poured gasoline from the bear trap to Will's room. Jonathan hammered nails into a baseball bat. You reloaded the two pistols with ammunition. Once you were done you moved to set up a yo-yo that would alert you when the monster was caught in the bear trap and when it was trapped the yo-yo will fall telling Jonathan to set it on fire. 

To avoid stepping on the bear trap, you all left it for last. You read the manual on how to set it up because you were terrified something would go wrong. Jonathan was opening it as Nancy stepped on the side to keep it in place.

"Wait, I don't think-"

"Y/n, shut up." Both of them shouted at you as they were in a very tense position.

You stayed quiet and watched nervously when Jonathan held it open with only his strength until Nancy finally got the latch in place. You let out a sigh of relief once they got off the trap and had their backs against the wall. There was just one more piece to the puzzle.

Jonathan got three knives from the kitchen drawer and returned to you and Nancy in the living room, dividing the sharp objects between the three of you. For precautionary measures, you did a quick run down for what would happen when the chaos ensued.

"Remember..." Jonathan asserted.

"Straight into Will's room. And... don't step on the trap," you replied.

"Wait for the yo-yo to move." Nancy said the next step.

"Then," Jonathan lit the lighter to indicate what he meant, "...All right. You ready?"

"Ready," you and Nancy affirmed.

You raised the knife in your dominant hand to the non-dominant and held the sharp end of the blade to your palm waiting for Jonathan's countdown. "On three. One... two... You don't have to do this-"

"Jonathan, stop talking."

"I'm just saying, Y/n's already injured and you don't have to-"

You were capable of making your own decisions and so was Nancy. That's why you cut Jonathan off, "Three."

You and Nancy sliced your hands when you spoke up. Jonathan took a moment to realize what you said and followed the two of you. Not that you knew what to expect, but you didn't expect cutting your hand open to have the same stinging feeling as a paper cut times ten. You weren't sure how long it would take to lure a monster from another dimension with blood so you left your gash unbandaged for a couple minutes. Nancy and Jonathan did the same and had agreed you were the first to receive first aid since you already lost so much blood for the past two day. 

After a couple of minutes, Nancy got the first aid kit and sat down with you on the couch. She took your hand and began delicately wrapping it. It was almost if she was scared of hurting you or maybe it was guilt. But something about the girl had changed and your money was betting it wasn't because of you.

"Jonathan you should take some pointers from Nancy. See how I don't flinch when she doesn't apply to direct pressure to my wound." You teased to ease the tension, but the look they gave each other made to you want to flea.

Once the gash in your hand had been addressed you excused yourself to the bathroom. It was then that the realization set in that the monster would be returning in an undetermined amount of time. Images of the creature raced through your mind. Images of how its face peeled open to a snarled mouth with many rows of small jagged teeth. Its long, slender limbs that ended in points when it grasped you and left you harmed. Tying your hair up with the blue scrunchie on your wrist, you turned the sink on and splashed water on your face hopping to clear your head. You wiped the remaining droplets from your skin and looked at yourself in the mirror. The lack of sleep was taking a toll on you. Evident from the heavy dark circles under your eyes and the sickly pale color your skin had been. 

Banging on the front door had pulled you from poking and prodding at your face. You exited the bathroom frightened that the monster could already be there. You were sorely mistaken when Steve Harrington's voice yelled on the other side of the door to the house. "Jonathan? Are you there, man? It's... it's Steve! Listen, I just want to talk! What about Y/n, I want to apologize!"

You stood in the hall and mouthed to the two sitting on the couch, "What the hell is going on?"

There was no response as Nancy got up from her seat and the banging on the door continued. She opened the door to put an end to the thuds, "Steve, listen to me."

"What?" You stood silent watching the scene unfold before you.

"You need to leave."

"I'm not trying to start anything, okay?" Steve pleaded.

"I don't care about that. You need to leave." Nancy insisted.

"Listen, I messed up, okay? I messed...," he stuttered trying to get his words out as fast as possible, "I messed up. Okay? Really. Please. I just want to make things right. Okay? Please. Please... Hey, what happened to your hand? Is that blood?" This can't be good you thought.

"Nothing. It was an accident," the girl stammered making her obvious lie, obvious.

"Yeah, what's going on?"

"Nothing."

"Wait a sec. Did he do this to you?"

"No."

"Nancy, let me in!" Steve was clearly not listening to Nancy anymore and you moved towards the door. 

"No. No! No, Steve!" 

"What is... What the," he said finally breaking through the door where you could see his beaten face and he took in all the weapons laid about the living room.

You pushed Steve with your injured hand, "you need to get out of here."

He didn't budge and was still in a state of confusion. "Whoa. What is all," Steve took notice of the bandaged hand pushing him away and lifted it off him. "Whoa, your hand too?"

Sarcastically you stated, "I appreciate the concern, Harrington. But I'm not asking you, I'm telling you, get the fuck out of here!"

He wasn't listening still oversensitive to his surroundings and taking it all in, "What is that smell? Is that... is that gasoline?" 

As the two of you were shoving each other back in forth, you heard the tell tale click of a gun being cocked. "Steve, get out!" You looked away from the taller teenager to see Nancy aiming a gun at him and you rapidly backed away.

"Wait. What? What is going on?" he stuttered, panicked at why the girl was pointing a gun at him.

You were shocked that Nancy had even thought of doing that. You wouldn't have even done it and you hated the guy. Stood in utter disbelief, you couldn't bring yourself to help the poor guy out. If it was the only way to get him out of there before the monster attacked then you guessed it was better having a gun aimed at you than being torn apart by that creature.

"You have five seconds to get out of here." Nancy commanded.

"Okay, is this a joke? Stop. Put the gun down." Steve put his hands up trying to get the girl to comply.

"I'm doing this for you."

The Christmas lights blinking gained your attention and you stopped listening to the two. You watched for a couple more seconds not sure if you were seeing what you were. You panicked when they started flashing brighter and faster. Jonathan realized what you had and yelled, "Nancy, Nancy! The lights. It's here." 

Quickly, you grabbed your pistol off the coffee table and took your stance in a triangle back to back with Nancy and Jonathan. You spun in circles looking for it as you questioned out loud where it was. 

"I don't know. I don't see it." Jonathan replied.

The now forgotten boy yelled, "Hello? Will someone please explain to me what the hell is going-" but was cut off by the giant creature breaking through the ceiling.

You stared up at it and backed away near the front door. Nancy decided to shoot it while it couldn't attack and got a couple shots on it until Jonathan pulled her away. "No. Go! Go! Run! Go!" He said as her grabbed her and ran down the hall. You followed pulling along Steve who had been left dumbfounded at the sight.

"Jump," you shouted to inform him about the bear trap in the middle of the hall.

"Oh. my God! Oh, my God." Steve slammed the door shut behind him, "Jesus! Jesus! What the hell was that? What the fuck was that?"

You, Nancy, and Jonathan turned to him, "Shut up!"

The growls of the monster had ceased all talking and you all looked at the bedroom door in front of you. You stood in a line with Jonathan in between you and Nancy, and Steve behind the three of you. Nancy and you had your guns drawn to the entrance. Jonathan had in one hand the spiked bat for just in case and in the other the lighter ready for when the yo-yo fell. You were panting listening at the padded thumps of the creature outside the door. 

"What's it doing?" Nancy asked.

"I don't know," Jonathan answered.

The electricity jolted and the lights flicked back on. Suddenly there was no more noise on the other side of the door. "Do you hear anything?" Both Nancy and Jonathan shook their heads.

Jonathan closed the lighter putting the flame out, "No."

He was the first to walk out of Will's bedroom checking around the corner to see if it was hiding. He moved along to the living room and the rest of you followed. Standing out in the hall you could see the trap hadn't be engaged. You slowly tiptoed down the hall with Jonathan in front of you. Reaching the end of the wall that met the living room, Jonathan quickly leaped around the corner. You copied his tense movement and you faced an empty room. You relaxed slightly, but still had no idea where the creature went. Jonathan checked the whole room to find where it had gone and you looked about in shock of how it disappeared.

"This is crazy. This is crazy. This is crazy," Steve was starting to lose it. "This is crazy! This is crazy! This is crazy!" He shouted and lunged for the phone on the wall of the kitchen. You moved to stop him from calling someone, but Nancy beat you to it and seized hold of the phone and smashed it on the floor. "What are do- What are doing? Are you insane?"

"It's going to come back!" Nancy fought, "So you need to leave. Right now."

You had never seen someone run so fast than in that moment when Steve raced to get out of the house. One second he was standing in the hall and the next thing you knew the front door was flung shut. Then the lights begun to flicker again, the remaining three of you jumped into action. You spun around searching for the monster almost getting dizzy from the constant flashing lights. "Come on you son of bitch."

"You see it?" Jonathan asked.

"No. Where-" Nancy anxiety ridden didn't finish her sentence.

"Come on. Where are you? Come on!" 

The lights kept blinking and blinking until they unexpectedly shut off and you were plunged in darkness. Taking a moment to adjust to the pitch dark, you could only hear and what you heard was growling near you. When your eyes adjust you saw what was responsible for said growling and it was right behind Jonathan.

"Jonathan!" You and Nancy yelled to warn him, but was to late when he was pinned down by the monster. Jonathan was struggling to keep it off of him and needed help fast. You and Nancy stood on opposite sides of the room and she began shooting the creature.

"Go to hell, you son of a bitch!" The monster's attention was turned to her and shortly after she ran out of bullets. The monster moved towards her and blocked her in the living room. To give Nancy a chance at getting away, you took your gun and started shooting it. Just like her you made the same mistake of running out of ammo and having no where to run.

The creature was charging towards you when you heard the first click and your back hit the wall. Frightened, you closed your eyes and kept pulling the trigger hoping there would magically be more bullets. What you thought were your last moments alive had never come. You opened your eyes to see what was the hold up, only to see Steve beating the shit out of the monster with the spiked bat. 

"Steve?" You were surprised he came back after he practically sprinted out of there. The creature tried to grab him, but he dodged each of its attacks. After dodging it he hit it several times with the bat and he even spun the bat just to show off. Steve expertly pushed the monster down the hall and continued striking it until it got caught.

You manged to collect yourself from barely escaping death and heard the snap of the bear trap closing. You turned to Steve half expecting him to be the one caught. "He's in the trap!" Steve yelled, "He's stuck!"

You watched as it struggled to get out and shouted, "Jonathan, now!"

Said teenager ran from the living room with the lighter in hand. He rushed in front of where you, Nancy, Steve stood and lit the flame throwing it on the gasoline trail causing the carpet to light up. The fire quickly grew and the monster was now aflame. The intensity of the heat made you flinch, but not as much as the boys as they had been on the front line. The monster was squealing in pain and Jonathan seeing the fire starting to get out of control grabbed the fire extinguisher to put it out. The white foamy chemicals filled the hall and once the fire and the smoke died down all that was left a bloodied and burnt carpet.

The harsh chemicals entered your lungs making you cough until the aired cleared up. The four of you walked slowly to the now empty and smoking bear trap. "Where did it go," Nancy asked.

"No. It has to be dead," Jonathan replied, "It has to be."

The Christmas lights had lit up one by one starting with the one closet to the bear trap. You were almost sent into an anxiety attack at the thought of it coming back. But something was different about the lights this time. They weren't flickering out of control. It was kinda like Joyce said about communicating with Will through them. The electricity powered back on through out the rest of the house and the Christmas lights continued to come on one by one leaving a trail to the front of the house.

Steve being the only one with a weapon lead the way until you stood at the front door. The last light blinked on and a wave of familiarity rushed through you as Jonathan said, "Mom is that you."

You walked outside to see the lights outside were also leaving a trail. "Where's it going?" Nancy was concerned it was getting away.

"I don't think that's the monster." Jonathan quietly answered.

*****

The group decided to stay a little while longer to make sure the monster didn't come back and once you were sure it wasn't coming back, you would go back to middle school to check on the kids. While you were waiting around Nancy took the time to explain to Steve what happened the past week. The two of them took their conversation to the kitchen. Exhausted you sat down on the couch and the well known burning sensation returned to your side. Even if that monster was gone it definitely left its mark on you and if your wound didn't scar, it left a permanent scar in your mind and everyone around you.

Jonathan took a seat next to you, "... how are you holding up?"

"I'm just glad that thing's gone."

"Yeah, me too." A sharp pain shot through you and you flinched grabbing your side. Jonathan noticed and suddenly remembered, after all the events that occurred, about your injury. "Hey, we should probably check your bandages now."

"Yeah that would probably be a good idea." You lifted the corner of your shirt and it was just as you thought, it was time to change the bandages.

"Jesus, did that happen when we fought?" You tugged your sweater down at the sound of Steve's unexpected voice and looked back up to see Nancy and him reentered the room.

"Oh, I'll go grab the bandages," Nancy said and went to the bathroom to get them.

Steve stood there awkwardly shuffling back and forth on his feet. You decided to answer his question, "No Steve, you didn't do this." You pointed to your side, "that thing did and that's why we were at Nancy's last night. And why we got into a fight in the first place. By the way pushing me on the ground didn't really help either." You added the last part to make him feel guilty about being an asshole. It seemed to work because he hung his head in shame and wouldn't look in your direction the entire time Nancy changed your bandages.

After about ten minutes of sitting around, waiting for a light to spark, you got in the car to head back to Hawkins Middle School. Surprisingly, Steve stuck around and Nancy had split from your group to drive back with him. You weren't complaining although Jonathan looked upset that things seemed as if they were going back to normal and the girl was never going to talk to him again. Part of you knew from the way the two looked at each other that wasn't going to happen. The other part of you wished for things to go back to normal.

When you were getting closer to the school red and blue flashing lights became visible and Jonathan sped up. The second he parked the car, you opened the door and hurried to find the kids. More specifically the girl who had no one to look after her. Nancy was following in your stride searching for her brother. Once you found Mike without Eleven, you could already tell something was wrong.

"Where's-" You didn't have to finish your sentence to see in his eyes that she was gone. A gut wrenching feeling filled your stomach as you were left in a daze. You wanted to protect the girl after finding out her story. Hell, you had been protecting her the whole week even before learning she was being experimented on by disgusting human beings. Not knowing how to react you stood there for a bit then went back to sit in Jonathan's car until your father returned hopefully with Will. 

You sat in the passenger sit next to Jonathan without saying a word and staring off into space. "Is everything okay?"

"She's gone... She's gone, Jonathan." Not knowing the girl very long, you couldn't say it was like you lost Sara all over again. But it definitely reminded you of it. It reminded you how you wished you could have traded places with Sara. Right now you were wishing you could have given Eleven a better life. That was most likely attributing to your emotional state as tears gathered at the corner of eyes, but never falling.

Jonathan didn't respond leaving you to spill what was on your mind, "She deserved a better life than what she got. She was dealt such a shitty deck of cards."

The two of you sat in silence while you processed what happened to Eleven. Eventually another car entered the parking lot. It had been the truck belonging to your dad. Your spirits lifted a little at knowing he had survived the upside down. Jonathan got out to see if he found Will, but your dad immediately ignored the both of you to talk to the Federal Agents that showed up due to the horrific scene inside the school. You watched from a far as he argued with them then seeming to come to decision as he walked back your way, "Get in your car. We found him." Then he walked off to tell the families of Will's friends to meet at the hospital.

Jonathan didn't need to hear a second word, he jumped into the driver's seat and would have driven off if half your body weren't in the car. He basically flew down the street just to get to the hospital quicker. He barged through the hospitals doors and you followed. The receptionist was startled by how he burst in, "Um, how may I help you?"

"We're here for Will Byers," Jonathan replied.

"And are you family of the patient?"

"I'm his brother and she's a family friend."

"I'm sorry but she'll have to stay in the waiting room."

"But she's practically family."

You spoke up, "Hey, it's okay. I can wait. You just go make sure he's alright."

He wasn't sure, but you pushed him a little and the receptionist told him where to go. You started walking to waiting room when everyone else had gotten there. They tried talking to receptionist, but she said the same thing as she told you. You had taken a seat next to your dad anticipating news on Will's well being.

Once everyone else was done arguing with the receptionist they sat in waiting room with you. You were taken aback at Steve's presence, especially when he took the seat next to you. You avoided him by looking straight ahead of you and he did the same. Your dad took notice of your both of your odd behavior and looked back and forth between the two of you realizing how both your faces were beaten. The man put two and two together and whispered to you, "Is that the boy you beat up?"

You didn't answer, the shock on your face already had. Your dad seemed impressed, but at the same time concerned at your abilities. You turned to Steve and realized how badly you beat him. His left side of his face was covered in bruises and cuts. "What?" he said catching your gaze.

Immediately looking away, you covered your face in embarrassment to which your dad let out a gruff laugh.

After that you spent the next hour trying to fight off sleep. It had been very difficult considering you had a very, very long day and when the boys fell asleep across the room, you grew envious. Mike however was still awake stuck in his own mind and you were sure you knew what he was thinking. It was the same thing you had been thinking about. 

The door opening snapped you out of your thoughts and Jonathan gestured for you and Mike. You got up from the chair to join Jonathan and Mike woke his friends up. "Guys. Guys, he's up. Will is up. Guys, Will's up." 

They pushed past you and Jonathan, running to Will's room. You wanted to run too, but held yourself back to not further embarrass yourself. You and Jonathan entered the room to see the boys dog piled on the hospital bed. "Guys, guys. Go easy on him." Jonathan said with a little laugh. The boys listened and got up revealing the younger Byers to you. Each of them gave Will a hug again and a smile was brought upon your face at the friendly reunion. 

"You won't believe what happened when you were gone, man." Lucas spoke up and you started to feel tears go down your cheeks at finally knowing Will was safe and well.

"It was mental," Dustin remarked.

"You had a funeral."

"Jennifer Hayes was crying."

"And Troy peed himself."

"What?" Somehow your smile grew at hearing Will say one word and you laughed wiping the tears off your face at the same time.

"In front of the whole school," Dustin added.

Will began coughing from laughing to hard and his friends became concerned.

"You okay?" Mike asked.

"It got me. The Demogorgon," Will said.

"We know. It's okay. It's dead. We made a new friend. She stopped it. She saved us, but she's gone now." Mike reminded you of failure to protect the young girl.

"Her name's Eleven." Dustin shared with Will.

"Like the number?" 

"Well, we call her 'El' for short." Lucas clarified.

"She's basically a wizard."

"She has superpowers," Lucas whispered so none of the hospital staff heard.

"More like a Yoda," Mike joked.

"She flipped a van with her mind, and these agents were trying to shoot us-" The three boys began to talk over each other and was difficult to understand what they were saying they were so excited. You and Jonathan had stood next to each other smiling watching, in amusement, the friends talk as they hadn't in a long time. You were so focused on them, you hadn't noticed Nancy standing behind you, but Jonathan noticed when her presence was gone.

When the boys had finished their storytelling, their parents came to get them insisting they had to let Will get rest. They put up a fight, but eventually were dragged out by their parents. Once they left Will turned his attention to you and you took a seat next to his bed. "... Hey, bud. How are you doing?" You tried to say it without your voice cracking, but failed and then more tears spilled from your eyes.

"Hey, why are you crying," he teased.

"I don't really know why. I'm just so glad your safe now... I'm sorry I didn't pick you up from Mike's." 

"Y/n that's not your fault." Jonathan said.

"I know. I know. I'm happy you're here, Will." The boy gave you a warm smile and you gave him one back. You used your sleeve to clean the tears off you face, "Jeez, sorry for ruining the mood guys."

Jonathan patted your back and said, "It's getting late, you should get some sleep Will."

"But all I've been doing is sleep."

"Okay correction, we haven't gotten a regular night's sleep in the past week, we need to get some sleep." You responded to the boy. He agreed and you exited the room giving your goodbyes for the night and went to the waiting room. You didn't find your father there and without a ride home you were stuck sleeping in the waiting room chairs. 

*****

A month had passed since Will had vanished, "died", and returned. People were confused as how the boy had even been labeled as dead when their was an autopsy performed. The feds, that showed up the night Will returned, covered the whole thing up by saying it was kid who looked a lot like Will. The feds had caused a lot of problems for everyone involved with Hawkins Lab and, what the kids were calling, the Demogorgon. 

Once Will's condition was stabilized. They interviewed you and all of the Byers family. Asking many questions about what you experienced in that week. Somehow they got you to admit to being attacked by the Demogorgon. Even when swore you would never let your dad find out about it. When he saw your wound, he flipped out and grounded you even though you were safe and there was no threat of the Demogorgon anymore. 

After their extensive interview they didn't ask, they made sure you knew you had to to sign a contract stating if you let anyone else know what they did at Hawkins Lab, you were putting yourself in danger and whoever you told. They didn't specifically say they would kill you, but they sure as hell heavily implied it. You asked Nancy if they did the same to her and she told they did and had even made Steve sign the contract.

Now you were just trying to go back to normal and forget about the whole incident altogether. But it impacted your life to a great degree. Nightmares plagued your sleep with memories replaying of the Demogorgon and the girl you failed to save. Your mental health was suffering and your school life had been one of its victims. You barely showed up the rest of the semester and when you did, you didn't pay attention. You didn't complete your homework assignments causing your grades to plummet and you were forced to drop out of AP classes at the start of the new semester. In a way, you guessed what people said about you became true. For now it was winter break and once school started again, you told yourself you would get your shit together. But at that moment you wanted to have fun seeing as it was Christmas eve.

You and Jonathan were hanging out earlier in the day and he had to go pick up Will at Mike's from D&D. You stood on the porch in the cold waiting for someone to answer the door. Mrs.Wheeler had got it and ushered you into the warmth. She said to Jonathan, Will was downstairs as if that wasn't their normal hangout. Jonathan went to grab his brother and you stayed where you were. You saw Nancy leave the living room and race upstairs. Curious why she left the room, you entered it to see Steve sitting on the couch. "Oh, I didn't expect you to be here, but you know what I really should have."

"What's that supposed to mean?" He responded.

"Nothing," you said about to leave the room.

"Y/n wait," Steve's voice stopped you in your tracks. "Can we... Can we call a truce on the whole fighting thing?" Shocked at what you were hearing, you stayed silent and Steve stammered on his words. "I know I can't apologize for being a complete ass for two years, but I promise I'll stop provoking you on purpose."

You were stunned, this had to be a dream. Steve Harrington was actually admitting to his faults. You stuttered, "Uhh, I guess I'd be okay with a truce. I think I owe you a little credit after you saved my life." You remembered he was the one who stopped the Demogorgon from attacking you a second time.

"I'll even stop-" He was even shocked at your words, "Wait really."

Deciding to listen to the advice you gave Eleven, you semi apologized while still taunting him, "I mean I kinda do feel bad about beating your face in."

"Ouch, that hurts."

"It's not your fault you had to go up against a girl who was taught how to fight her whole life."

"I thought we called a truce."

"I'm just teasing. I tease everyone, even Jonathan."

"Oh, so I'm basically your friend now."

You rolled your eyes walking away from Steve." Merry Christmas, Harrington," you muttered and walked to the front door. 

"Merry Christmas, Hopper," you heard as you turned the corner coming face to face with Jonathan being given a present by Nancy. The girl then left back to the living room.

"What's that all about?" He gave a questioning stare.

"Honestly I don't even know," you walked past him ruffling Will's hair and opening the front door. You walked towards Jonathan's parked car as Will raced past you.

"I call shotgun," he yelled.

"Ugh" you exaggerated getting in the back seat and "allowing" Will to have the front seat.

Jonathan got in and started the car to let it warm up. He looked at Will and said, "Alright, buckle up."

Will took the seat belt and locked it into place. You moved over to the middle seat and buckled your belt as well. The little boy looked at the present Jonathan sat down, "Can I open it?"

"Yeah, sure." Jonathan answered his brother and Will unwrapped the gift revealing a new camera. "Whoa, pretty cool."

You knew this had to be Steve's way of calling a truce with Jonathan as well. Although it may have needed convincing from Nancy, but you weren't sure.

"Yeah, pretty cool," Jonathan chuckled lightly and pulled out of his parking spot.

"Oh my gosh, Jonathan and Y/n. You should have seen this campaign. We weren't going to make, but then I shot a fireball at the Thessalhydra and boom dead." Will begun to excitedly tell you about his D&D game.

Jonathan drove you to the police station because for the first time in a while you planned to spend Christmas Eve with your dad. You thanked Jonathan for the ride and walked into the station to meet your father. You found him putting leftovers from the work party into a to go container and you walked up to greet him. Powell saw him packing up to go, "You leaving already, Chief?"

"Oh come on, you think I actually wanted to come to this thing? I was just hungry. Besides I promised Y/n we would celebrate together."

"Oh, yeah, that's the spirit." Callaghan stated.

"Come on, let's go," your dad said pointing you to the exit.

Flo stopped the both of you taking the cigarette out of his mouth, "Merry Christmas, Hop. Merry Christmas, Y/n."

Your dad continued on his way, but you returned the favor, "Merry Christmas, Flo."

Noticing you weren't following him, he shouted with a smile still on his face, "Y/n let's go."

You got in the truck and when your dad took a different turn, you asked, "Where are you going this isn't the way home."

"I'm aware." The rest of the drive was silent and you were growing with curiosity to know where you were going.

He pulled the car onto the side of the street and gestured for you to get out and he followed with the tub of food in hand. He started walking up a path with you behind him. You were still confused as to where you were going, but went along anyways. "I'm going to let you in on a little secret, Y/n." Huh what was he talking about, you thought. "The feds let it slip that Mike Wheeler saw that girl... Eleven, after she disappeared." 

Your mind was sent through a whirlwind at the girl you presumed to be dead was actually alive, "What, how... she was... what?"

"I don't know how to explain it either, but I've been leaving food in a stash for a couple weeks and it goes missing every time. It could be nothing, but it could also be her."

"Well, if she's out there we've got to find her."

"Yeah, but nobody can know about her. And I mean nobody, not even Jonathan. If someone finds out she's alive, she will be hunted down. The only reason I'm even telling you is because when we find her I was thinking about moving us out to grandpa's cabin."

Not putting up a fight against what he said you replied, "Okay, I understand. If it's to protect El then I'll do it."

A short walk later, you reached a food stash covered in snow. Your dad kneeled down and lifted the wooden lid putting the container inside then removed something from his jacket pocket. Upon closer inspection, you saw they were same waffles the girl stole from the supermarket. "Eggos?" Your dad looked at you questioningly and you gave him a nod of approval, "I think she'll like them."

You gave each other a smile and he picked up the flashlight to head back to the truck to go home. On the drive home your dad was persisting to eat at a restaurant, but you couldn't let him ruin your surprise. He had no idea that all day you and Jonathan were setting up a feast at your house. You even decorated the whole trailer for which your dad would probably get upset at all the lights in his room. But it was the first in long time you got to celebrate Christmas and you went all out. There was no way you were going to end up eating at some low class diner.

Your dad was growing suspicious at why you didn't agree, but didn't question you. It seemed he was already performing an investigation in his brain. Upon arriving at the trailer home the bright lights filled your vision and soon came the smell of the food you made. You set up a makeshift dining table in your living room and on it laid all the tradition Christmas food items. There was even a turkey that Joyce taught you how to cook. "What's all this?" he asked.

"Well, I thought we could have a real Christmas for once."

You took off your coat and your dad grabbed it putting it away with his. You sat on one of the two chairs at the table and your dad joined. He was still surprised at how you put this all together. "This is amazing. Thank you, Merry Christmas Y/n."

"Merry Christmas, Dad." You replied taking him by surprise and partially yourself.

"You know, I think that's the first time in 5 years that you've called me dad."

You took a couple seconds to respond then whispered, "Well, stranger things have happened."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who is reading this series. I will probably start getting season 2 out in a month. I have a lot more planned for that season (there will be way more than just 8 episodes) and it's going to take me some time to write it all. I want to make sure I have a chapter ready for each chapter I post. And between college and work, it's going to take me about a month to get it all planned out how I want it to be and to be the best quality I can get it to be. I hope you all will continue to read my series.


	9. Update

Hey everyone, I just wanted to leave an update about where I've been. Everything in the world has kind of been a mess since I last updated. I have been really busy with work and was finally getting the motivation to start writing again. I know said I would be back in a month, but I'm not sure when now. I had a near death experience recently that left my phone destroyed along with all my notes for this series. I'm fine now and will need a minute to get back to normal. I am planning on continuing this series, but as of right now I'm not sure when. I'm really sorry this will take longer than anticipated.


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